


Fallen To The Top

by Renegade_Angels



Series: The Summer of Angels [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: BAMF Charlie Bradbury, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Fallen Castiel, Gen, M/M, Original Character Fic, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Torture, badass female characters, friendships everywhere, starvation as torture, they are friendsies, this is not OC/Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-21
Updated: 2015-08-14
Packaged: 2018-02-22 00:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 21,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2487602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renegade_Angels/pseuds/Renegade_Angels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amelia Cabot works at a comic book store with her best friend, Scott. A lot of odd characters come into the store, but one in particular grabs Amelia’s attention: the scruffy man in a trench coat, buried in the Supernatural series. Together, she and the man, who calls himself Cas, trek across the country to try and reunite Cas with his family. </p><p>(post s8, fallen!Cas fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. His name was Cas, but she called him Trenchcoat

Amelia Cabot had a normal life. She went to school, came home, got some homework done, and then went off to her job at Freaks and Geeks Comic Book Store. When her shift finished, she went back home, finished her homework, and maybe got more than five hours of sleep.

Then she entered the last two months of her senior year at high school. The routine stayed the same, but she kept noticing the same guy at the comic book store. Every day she would come in for her shift, and she would see him in the corner near the register, nose deep in some sci-fi pulp fiction series. She’d heard of the series, but she hadn’t bothered reading it. She wasn’t into the whole “sexy guys killing monsters and shit” genre of sci-fi.

Trench Coat, apparently, was really into it.

Amelia had dubbed the man Trench Coat because he was always wearing one, over a suit and blue tie. Amelia had a feeling that he should be over-heating in all of that, but maybe he was just from somewhere warmer than Derry, Maine. He was taller than her, which wasn’t hard, seeing as Amelia stood at an astounding five-foot-four (which was tall for her Irish-Italian family, but not the rest of the world). His hair seemed to be in a permanent mess of dark brown, and he was steadily growing facial hair.

It wasn’t a problem at first; Amelia just assumed that Trench Coat was some weird dork that lived in his mother’s basement. But then April turned into May, and Amelia’s coworkers started asking questions about the bearded trench coat man in the corner, deep into _Supernatural_.

May tenth was the first time anyone came up to Amelia directly. It was her gay best friend, of course, who did. Scott was always into gossip. He jabbed Amelia in the side while she was restocking the shelves and pointed at Trench Coat, not bothering to try to be polite about it. “ _Okay_ , what the hell is he _still_ doing _here_?”

“I don’t know… why don’t you ask him?” Amelia kept shelving books. She saw no problem with Trench Coat; he wasn’t disturbing anyone else in the store save for the people who worked there, but if they didn’t like it, they could always quit.

“Um, _hello_ , he’s a creepy hobo using _our_ merch and _not_ _paying_ _for_ _it_! Do you _not_ see the problemo?” Scott gestured wildly as he talked. “And there is _no_ _way_ I’m risking _my_ neck to tell _him_ to buy something or get out. _You’re_ Miss Tough Stuff, _you_ do it.”

“Look, just because I punched some dick in the face for pushing you around, does not mean I’m some prize winning fighter. That was just luck.”

“It’s _more_ than I’ve got.” Scott was such a pacifist sometimes. Amelia sighed and rolled her eyes. She put the last book up and turned to face her friend, hands on her hips. “Fine. Beam me over, Scotty.”

“It’s beam me _up_ , not _over_.” Scott rolled his eyes but Amelia ignored him. She spun on her heel and walked over to Trench Coat, trying to shove down her nervousness. She hated talking to new people, because her voice sounds ridiculous, like someone midway into a game of Fluffy Bunny. People call her out on it all the time. She doesn’t want Trench Coat to be one of those people.

Amelia approaches him anyway. He doesn’t look up when she’s right in front of him, so she fake coughs.

He looks up and Amelia blinks a few times, because no hobo could have access to colour contacts. Trench Coat’s eyes are too damn blue to be natural. There aren’t any contact lines, though, so those blue things are real.

Trench Coat tilts his head to the left. “Hello.”

“Um… hi. Sorry to bother you, but, uh… if you want to keep reading that… you’re going to have to… um… pay. For the book.” Amelia runs a hand through her mousy brown-blonde hair and steps back, trying to be respectful of the guy’s personal space.

Trench Coat looks down at the book, an expression of pure angst on his face. Amelia assumes it’s because he, like all the others who start reading _Supernatural_ , has developed some sort of creepy connection to the thing. Once a _Supernatural_ , always a _Supernatural_ , as Scott would say. Scott knows about all of the different fandoms the store holds.

Trench Coat puts the book on the counter and looks back at Amelia. He’s sitting, so he’s looking up at her. He stands so that he’s taller. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know that was your policy.”

“No… no! No, it… it’s no big deal… you didn’t know… I just… I…” Amelia trails off. The man in front of her is making her really fucking uncomfortable. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that he was staring into her soul. Amelia coughs again. “I thought you should know so that… no one here would get too mad at you and try to kick you out. You’re doing nothing wrong.”

“Thank you… I find the books interesting.” Trench Coat looks again at the book on the table, titled _Red Sky at Morning_. Amelia decides that she’s going to give Trench Coat a break and buy him the damn thing, since it seems to be so important. She pulls out her wallet and hands Trench Coat a twenty. “Here,  buy it… or buy your favourite. Whichever you want. It’s on me.”

Trench Coat stares at the money with his eyes narrowed and his head tilted. “Why are you doing this? For me?”

“I… honestly? I have no idea. You just look like hell and I don’t like seeing people in despair.” Amelia shrugs. “I know I can’t do anything big… I can’t fix your life… probably… but I just thought… random act of kindness, you know?”

“You’re a good person.” Trench Coat says. He takes the offered twenty. “Thank you…”

“No problem.” Amelia smiles. Someone else is working the register, a chubby Goth girl with a nose ring named Rosaline, and so Trench Coat buys the books from her. Amelia doesn’t see which ones he buys, but she doesn’t think it matters. She did her part, and she also did her job.

<<<<>>>> 

Trench Coat came back the next day. And the day after that. Three days after Amelia had told him to buy the _Supernatural_ book had passed, and it was Saturday. Amelia had a different shift on Saturday. The lunch shift. She didn’t expect to see Trench Coat in his corner of the store, but he was there, reading as usual.

She walked over, curious. “You’re still reading?”

“Yes. Dean’s time is almost up… even though I know he’s going to hell, I still want him and Sam to find a way out… it would be less painless that way.” Trench Coat says, lowering the book from his face. He looks like he knows Sam and Dean (who are, as far as Amelia knows, the main characters of the series) personally, even though that isn’t possible. Sam and Dean are characters. As much as Trench Coat may want them to be real, it won’t happen.

“There’s more after Dean goes to hell, I think…” Amelia says. Scott had told her, once, in passing, that there were more books online and that he had down-loaded all of them, up to the point where Dean went to the future. Whatever _that_ meant. Amelia continues, noticing how Trench Coat’s expression lightens up. “Yeah, they’re online… eBooks, I think. A lot of people think the quality went down after the… uh… new creatures were introduced. I can’t tell you what… spoilers and all that.”

“Oh.” Trench Coat nods. He closes the book and focuses back on Amelia. “Have you read them yourself?”

“Nope, but Scott… he’s not here but he’s the tall one with the fluffy hair… I’m pretty sure he’s read every book this store has.” Amelia says. She extends her hand. “I’m Amelia, by the way.”

“My name is Cas.” He says, and shakes her hand.

“Cas… different. Never heard that before…” Amelia hadn’t, not really. Despite that, it still sounded familiar. She’d think about that later. “So, uh… Cas… not to be intrusive or anything, but what’s with the get-up? I can’t tell if you’re a shabby accountant or a snazzy hobo. No offense.”

Cas looks down at what he’s wearing. He holds the tie out for a few moments before letting it drop to his chest. Now that she’s closer, Amelia can see what the trench coat had been previously hiding: Cas is skinny as a twig. The shirt is baggy like a t-shirt, and his face is drawn. Amelia gasps. “Oh my God…”

“God…” Cas lets out a single, hollow laugh, looking like a man who has lost all he had ever found, and then some.

“What… what happened to you?” Amelia says. _This poor guy… he looks like he hasn’t eaten, or slept, in days… I’m talking to a dying man…_ She swallows her fear. “Do you… do you have anywhere to go when this place closes?”

“No.”

“I have a guest room.” Amelia says. “I… I have a habit of finding hurting people and bringing them home, and caring for them… and I know, you’re probably thinking that you don’t need my help, and maybe you don’t, but _please_ , let me at least think I’m doing something.”

“You are a good person.” Cas says, the same thing he had said to Amelia a few days prior when she had bought him the book. “Thank you. I… can’t remember the last time I had the option of resting somewhere safe.”

“Okay.” Amelia nods. She takes a deep breath. “After my shift ends, Scott and I will walk to my house… you’re welcome to tag along, if you want.”

“Thank you.” Cas says again. 


	2. His name was Cas, and Scott didn't trust him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that it's been a while since I posted here, but college and NaNoWriMo happened, and I didn't have any time for this site. I promise I haven't abandoned you guys, and I'll be posting every other Friday from now on!

Scott keeps looking as Cas as though the man is going to jump at them and slit their throats. Amelia doesn’t blame him; she knows this looks kind of sketchy, but she’s gone things like this before. She has a radar for lonely people, and ever since she’s honed in on that radar, she’s used it to the betterment (hopefully) of Derry. She takes people in, cleans them up, gets them healthy, finds a job for them to do (on occasion) and once they’re fine, they leave. Some leave in the middle of the night with nothing to show that they were there, some leave a note, and some thank the Cabot’s to their face.

Amelia thinks that Cas is going to be in the third column. He just seems the type to want to make sure a favour is known.

“Scott, stop looking at him like that.” Amelia rolls her eyes. Scott gives her another look, his grey eyes suspicious. “I’m _sorry_ I’m not as trusting as _you_ , Amy… I mean, _look_ at him! He’s… like, _stereotypical_ _hobo_ _killer_!”

“I didn’t know those existed.” Amelia replies, keeping her own voice down so that Cas won’t hear their conversation. He’s a few steps behind them, but Amelia doesn’t know how well he can hear things.

“ _Well_ , they _do_ , and you _just_ _so_ _happen_ to be _taking_ one into your own _house_!”

“Scott, shut up.” Amelia grits her teeth. No one seems to trust her ability to sense safe people. Everyone else just immediately assumes that anyone without proper housing is obviously out to kill everyone in sight. Amelia just thinks differently, apparently.

“I can hear you both, you know.” Cas says, his deep, grating voice still surprising to Amelia. At least she’s not the only one here whose voice doesn’t quite fit. Cas notices their expression and his mouth curls upward slightly. Something like a smile. “I don’t kill… people… it’s complicated.”

“Oh, because that’s so much better. Way to go, Amy.” Scott narrows his eyes. Amelia glares back. “He said he doesn’t kill people. Maybe he just hunts.”

Amelia looks over her shoulder at Cas. “Are you a hunter?”

“Yes.” Cas says, but he looks sad when he says it, so Amelia decides not to bring up the subject of hunting again. Bad memories, she supposes. She gives Scott a look, telling him to drop it as well, and he nods. Scott knows when he’s gone too far. He looks back at Cas. “Sorry, Cas.”

“It’s okay. You have your reasons for being suspicious.” Cas nods. The rest of the walk is in silence, and Scott waits at the base of Amelia’s driveway to make sure that Cas doesn’t try to kill her or anything before they get into the house. Once the two of them are out of Scott’s earshot, Amelia tells Cas, “I’m sorry about Scott… he and I are really protective of each other… we’re kind of the runts of the litter at our school.”

“I know that feeling.” Cas nods. He looks down the hill at Scott, then back to Amelia. “I have… had… many brothers and sisters. I was the youngest, and none of them thought I was worth much. Then I saved someone…”

“And they realised, _holy shit Cas is awesome?_ _Everyone bow to him for he is supercool and we just didn’t know?_ ” Amelia wants that to be the answer, but the look on Cas’s face says otherwise. She wants that to be the answer because she’s the youngest of five, and the only thing she has going for her is that she brings in people and helps them get their lives together. She saves people, like Cas saved someone.

“No.” Cas shakes his head. “My sister… she said that the day I laid my hand on… _him_ … I was lost.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.” Cas tries for another smile. Amelia would hug him to try to comfort him, but that would be awkward. One does not simply hug a sad stranger in a trench coat.

They get to the door and Amelia knocks, deciding that bursting in with her new companion on her heels would not be the best way to introduce him. Instead, she waits until her older sister, Caroline, opens the door. Caroline is shorter than Amelia, and so she too has to look up at Cas. She openly gawks at him. “Amelia… um, who’s this?”

“This is Cas.” Amelia motions to the man next to her. “He’s going to be staying here for a bit.”

“A-are you sure—“

“ _Yes_. I’m sure.” Amelia narrows her eyes. “In fact, I’ve never been more sure of bringing someone home to help them out in my _life_.”

“Oh… well, alright then.” Caroline nods, her eyes still on Cas as though she expects him to strike her or her sister at any moment. Amelia enters the house, and Cas follows, taking in the foyer as though he’s never seen the inside of a middle-class suburban house before. For all Amelia knows, he hasn’t.

Amelia leads Cas up the stairs and down the open hall to where the Cabot family’s guestroom stands. Amelia swings the door open and gestures to the room. “Welcome to your new home, at least for a few weeks.”

“Your sister doesn’t like me.”

“Caroline doesn’t like that I bring home strangers…” Amelia shrugs. “Most people don’t… except for the strangers.”

Cas nods. “I know what it is like to not be thanked for something.”

“Why do I get the feeling that you were some kind of James Bond in a previous life?” Amelia crosses her arms. This Cas guy _has_ to have some sort of weird, secretive history; he’s filtering everything he says and Amelia can tell. She’ll get to prying later, as she gets to know him. No point in rushing these things; Cas will open up eventually. They all open up eventually, because Amelia is willing to listen without judging or spilling secrets.

Cas does that head tilt thing again. “I don’t understand… who is James Bond?”

“You haven’t seen James Bond?” Amelia raises her eyebrows. Cas shakes his head and Amelia runs a hand through her hair. “Like, _ever_?”

“No… I’ve never really had the chance… who is James Bond?” Cas asks, and Amelia sighs. She reaches out to pat the man sympathetically on his shoulder, but retracts her hand upon remembering that this isn’t Scott or one of her other friends. This man is still somewhat of a stranger.

“He’s a fictional character… like the guys in those _Supernatural_ books you were reading… Sam and Dean, I think…”

“I had friends named Sam and Dean.” Cas throws out. Another dual eyebrow raise from Amelia. She nods. “Odd coincidence… wait. Did you say _had_? As in, _used to_ but then some shit went down and now you’re homeless and these Sam and Dean guys don’t give a flying crap about you?”

“That’s… one way to put it.” Cas shrugs. He looks around the upstairs back hallway. “What do you do in a house?”

“Where’d you live before?”

“Motels… mainly. There was an abandoned building turned into an abode that they stayed in before some shit went down, as you called it.” Cas says. He shoves his hands into his pockets, looking out of place. “They never stayed in one place too long. It was because of their job.”

“And _they_ are Sam and Dean, right?”

“Yes.”

“You moved around with them, didn’t you?” Cas nods to that. Amelia is starting to get the picture: three guys, thrown together because of fate or some other outside force, traveling the country and staying in crappy motels, picking up odd jobs to pay their way around, never able to keep the jobs, until the three of them, by some miracle, stumble across this building. Fully furnished, at least in Amelia’s mind, and it seems like heaven on earth. So they stay. Then something happens, Cas screws something up, and Sam and Dean kick him out. And then Cas, alone for the first time in years, realises that the world is a hell of a lot harder when your friends aren’t there with you.

Amelia offers Cas a condolence of a smile. “Hey, you’re not alone. I’m willing to help, and as soon as Scott sees that you aren’t trying to kill me, he’ll come around too. Until then, what do you want to eat?”


	3. His name was Cas, and he dressed like a hunter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't updated this in forever whoops. Anyway, here's a chapter three. :)

Cas likes burgers. Amelia learned this because he told her so. He said that they were one of the human foods he had really felt a connection to… whatever that means.

That was how Amelia and Cas found themselves at the Derry Supermall, sitting in the food court. Cas was tearing into a burger as though he had never eaten in his life. Amelia was enjoying her chicken wrap; she didn’t eat red meat, which was a loss, according to her new companion.

“So, Cas… do you have any other clothes besides the suit and trench coat look?” Amelia asks and sets down her wrap. Cas swallows a mouthful of burger. “No… and it’s an overcoat, not a trench coat… people mix the two up often.”

“Oh. ‘Kay.” Amelia folds her arms on the table. She looks around. “Well, we probably look really weird, out in public with you in your bum look and me… being a stereotypical Yankee teenager. So, we should probably get you something new… that way you’ll have something clean.”

“The coat stays.”

Amelia raises an eyebrow. “The coat stays?”

“The coat stays.” Cas nods. He looks serious about this, and Amelia gets the sense that the trench coat (overcoat, but she’s not going to call it that because the trench coat kind of defined Cas before she knew his name) is the only thing Cas has left from whatever his previous life was. Amelia decides not to argue, and nods in agreement. “The coat stays… but if we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this with someone who knows how to shop.”

“Scott?” Cas asks, and Amelia laughs. Scott may be flamboyantly gay in most aspects of his life, but fashion sense is not one of those aspects. No, Scott and Amelia’s mutual friend, a wiry girl with a poofball of blonde hair named Gwen is the fashion police of the group. And luckily (or not, depending) for Amelia and Cas, Amelia has Gwen on speed dial. Amelia calls her friend. “Hey, Gwen, I’ve got a sitch for you.”

“Aw, yes! You did the thing!” Gwen shouts, and Amelia can visualize Gwen in her home gym, donned in her varsity cheer-leader uniform, fist-pumping and doing high kicks in victory. Gwen’s over-dramatic and convinced that she’s a blonde Kim Possible. Thus, the sitch thing.

Amelia sighs. “Yes, Gwen. I did the thing…”

“So what’s the sitch?” Gwen says, trying to get her voice to sound like KP’s. No success; Gwen’s voice is too Boston to be Kim Possible. Gwen refuses to believe that, though.

“The _sitch_ is that I’ve got a guy here who has nothing to wear…” Amelia trails off, deciding that she’s given enough information out to Gwen that Gwen will immediately jump on the case to want more. Clothing is Gwen’s specialty, as well as making someone look ten times better than they usually do. She’s the one who dresses Amelia and Scott up whenever they have a date with a someone who is a real _someone_.

“Oh. My. God.” Gwen says, breathless. She’s probably fanning herself in mock distress. “Okay, I already know where you are because I can totally hear the food court in the back ground— I’m not going to ask why you’re at a food court seeing as you have society problems but whatever— and I’ll be there in, like, ten twelve minutes. Keep calm and carry on, my lovely!”

“Will do.” Amelia says, then ends the call and puts her phone away. Cas has been staring at her during the whole conversation. Amelia raises her eyebrows again. “What?”

“Should I be worried? While you were talking, you looked rather stressed out…” Cas is concerned about _her_. Of course… the mysteries of this guy’s past just keep swirling around each other in a mess of _what the hell is going on with Cas._

“There’s no need to worry. As long as you do exactly what Gwen tells you, she won’t kill you.” Amelia says, and then pauses. She has a feeling that Cas doesn’t really grasp rhetoric of any shade. “Um… she won’t actually _kill_ you… just make your life hell for a few hours.”

“That does not sound pleasant at all.” Cas frowns, looking down at his half-finished burger. He looks back up at Amelia. “Why are you friends with this Gwen person?”

Amelia laughs. “I sometimes ask myself that.”

<<<<>>>> 

Gwen takes over as soon as she catches sight of Cas, and proceeds to drag him into every store she knows that sells men’s clothing. She throws shirts, pants, jackets, even shoes, at the man, who is very overwhelmed and keeps looking at Amelia as though his trip through Gwen-induced hell has already begun. Amelia just shrugs. There’s nothing she can do at this point; once Gwen starts, she doesn’t finish until she’s _finished_.

“I am giving you copious amounts of blue because they will bring out the gorgeousness that is your eyes… and once we’ve got you a fab wardrobe, we’re going back to my place and I’m making your face match your clothes in sex appeal because Jesus Christ have you got some! I mean, under the beard and the fugly trench coat—“

 

“ _Overcoat_.” Cas growls, but Gwen waves him off.

 

“—Whatever. Under all that is just one hell of a man—Amy, love, where did you find him? The comic book store? I have to start going there!—and all we need is a razor and some hair styling gels to bring it out!” Gwen finishes her speech with a flourish, tossing a black and blue plaid shirt onto the top of Cas’s seemingly ever-growing pile of clothes. Cas stares down at the plaid shirt with the same look he gave Amelia when talking about the trench coat… and the Sam and Dean guys.

 

 _Plaid equals past_. Amelia stores that factoid in the back of her mind for later.

 

Then comes the trying on of clothes. Gwen gets Cas’s size down perfectly on everything, and she’s not shy about critiquing him as he steps out again and again. He looks tired, or annoyed. Amelia knows that she’s not at fault, but she still feels bad for putting Cas through all of this and so she’s sticking with Gwen and Cas until the end of the trip.

 

The blue plaid shirt comes out last, paired with a random pair of jeans that have a hole in the left knee. Gwen purses her lips, her blue eyes narrowed. She’s about to open her mouth, probably to tell Cas that he looks like a lumberjack with the beard and the plaid and the worn jeans, but Amelia talks first. “That looks good on you… buy that.”

 

“What?” Gwen gives Amelia a mean look over her naughty librarian glasses. She grabs Amelia’s forearm and gives an apologetic smile to Cas. “Sorry, sweetie, Amy and I have to talk for a quick sec… girl stuff. Don’t you worry your pretty head.”

 

Once the two teen girls are out of Cas’s earshot (hopefully, for Cas’s dignity’s sake), Gwen spins Amelia around so that they’re face to face. Gwen narrows her eyes. “Amelia Meredith Cabot! I cannot believe you! I thought I taught you better about what looks good and what doesn’t!”

 

“What’s wrong with Cas?” Amelia doesn’t know why, but she plans on defending that Goddamn plaid shirt with her life if she has to.

 

“What’s wrong with Cas?” Gwen sasses back. “He looks like he’s either going off to chop some wood or chop some heads!”

 

“He won’t once we get rid of the beard.” Amelia narrows her own eyes, looking up at Gwen. When Gwen isn’t in her usual heels, she and Amelia are around the same height. Amelia just hates heels, that’s all. “And… he likes the thing. Let him buy it.”

 

“Not the jeans. Those things are rachet!” Gwen makes a face about the jeans. Amelia makes a face about her friend’s choice of words. She shakes her head. “It’s a deal if you promise to _never_ say that word again.”

 

“Fine.” Gwen spins away, her poofy bob cut bouncing with her step. “Now let’s go make a man out of your new friend!”


	4. His name was Cas, and he was an angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are demons, and Scott is a nerd. That is all.

Amelia wakes up at six thirty just like she always does on weekdays. It’s the last week of school before finals, but because Amelia is a senior with a GPA of above 3.4, she isn’t required to take any final exams. So, in the small world of Amelia Cabot, this is her last week of high school. Ever.

 

She hums as she pours her cereal, smiling to herself. She’s got a lot to look forward to. Her only AP exams are on Tuesday and Friday, and so today is just another normal day.

 

Until she turns around and nearly body slams into Cas. She doesn’t, but she does drop her bowl of cereal to the floor. She runs a hand through her hair and steps back. “Cas… I, uh… that was surprising… you’re up early.”

 

“As are you.” He replies simply.

 

Amelia nods and crouches down to retrieve her spilled bowl of cereal. Luckily, there was no milk in it yet. She stands back up ant puts the bowl in the sink. “Yeah. You’re right… could you… step back or something? This is really weird.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Cas says, and does what had been requested of him. “When we were still friends, Dean had to teach me the aspects of personal space… the idea is still a bit foreign to me… that, and I was unaware that you hadn’t heard me enter.”

 

“Oh. Um… next time, just cough or something.” Amelia says. She grabs two more bowls, and pours the cereal for both herself and for Cas. She hands him his bowl. “Cereal… breakfast… spoons are in the drawer under the sink.”

 

“Thank you.” Cas says, and goes to get a spoon. “I didn’t know you were still in school… what do you do there?”

 

“At school?”

 

“Yes.” Cas looks at her the way one would look at someone who had just suggested that it was physically possible to swim to the moon. Amelia leans against the counter; she doesn’t have time to sit down and eat in the mornings. “Well… we learn stuff. And take tests… and there’s a lot of math that goes completely over my head, but somehow Scott gets it so he explains it all to me and Gwen… um… yeah. That’s kind of it.”

 

Amelia pauses, realising something. “Wait. Didn’t you go to school? As a kid or whatever?”

 

“No.” Cas looks away, out the window. He’s wearing the plaid shirt under the trench coat. “Dean and Sam taught me everything important about life… they taught me how to be… better.”

 

“You were a bad guy?”

 

“Yes. And no.” Cas says, because that obviously made sense to Amelia. He continues, still looking out the window onto Amelia’s backyard. “When I saved Dean… I thought I was good. I thought my family was good. And some of them… some of them were. Many of them wanted to… to hurt a lot of people, claiming they were doing it for the betterment of the world. Dean and Sam… they took me in. I lost everything but them, and then I made a deal, a mistake and a deal, and I ended up losing them as well.”

 

“I’m sorry.” Amelia says, and this time, she does put her hand on Cas’s shoulder. He looks like he needs it. He lost his family, and then the only two people who weren’t family but cared about him anyway. Amelia looks at the clock. “Oh, shit! I have to go… like, now!”

 

She slips past Cas and grabs her car keys, leaving the house and driving away. On her way to school, she does her best to not think about Cas. Feeling bad for him won’t change the past… if only she could figure out the details of what went down between Cas and the Sam and Dean guys. She might be able to fix everything if only she knew what she was trying to fix.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia is on her way to fifth period, walking with Scott on her left and Gwen on her right, when the lights start flickering and everyone starts freaking out. Then there are gunshots, and smoke, and Amelia has no idea what’s happening, but Scott is dragging her and Gwen into the guys’ bathroom and telling them to stay quiet. Amelia peers over Scott’s shoulder to try to see what’s going on outside.

 

“Is it… an attack or what?” Gwen whispers. Scott shushes her. There’s some screaming, and then the three of them hear a voice.

 

_“Where’s the girl?! Where’s the girl?! She has him! She knows where he is!”_

 

 

“Oh my God… we _are_ under attack!” Gwen whispers, her eyes wide. Scott clamps his hand over her mouth, telling her to shut up so that the person, or persons, don’t hear them and come looking. It’s too late, though, because Amelia can hear footsteps approaching the bathroom.

 

“Scott… they’re coming.” She whispers.

 

“ _Poptarts_.” Scott says, because whenever Scott is stressed, he never actually swears. It comes from being raised in a strict Roman Catholic family. If only they knew…

 

The door slams open and three teens storm in, all three holding automatic rifles and looking around. Amelia freezes, her only thought being: _where the hell did teenagers get automatic rifles from?_

 

One of the kids notices Amelia, Gwen, and Scott crouching around the corner. He grins. “Lookie here… seems like we found the one holding Castiel…”

 

He reaches forward and grabs Amelia, pulling her out over Scott’s head. Both Gwen and Scott scream for her, but the other two teens point their weapons, and Amelia’s friends shut their mouths. Amelia feels a shiver run down her body, and she wants to scream or cry or something, but she can’t. The teen holding her blinks, slowly, and when he opens his eyes, they’re completely black. “Where is Castiel?”

 

“What… what are you?” Amelia gasps.

 

“Your worst nightmare, sweetheart.” The thing hisses. He looks like he’s enjoying this way too much. Amelia tries to remember to breathe. It’s hard. The thing shakes her. “I’m going to ask you again… where is Castiel?”

 

“I don’t know a Castiel!” Amelia says, her voice cracking.

 

“Yes you do, you stupid bitch!” The thing lets go of her, and then she’s hurled onto a wall by some invisible force. She can feel whatever it is choking her, and she lets out an awkward squawk.

 

“Let her _go_!” Gwen shouts, and the thing holding her to the wall turns away. Gwen covers her mouth, Scott puts himself in front of Gwen. He narrows his eyes. “Look, we aren’t doing anything wrong… let us go.”

 

“No.” One of the other kids (if they are even kids, Amelia doesn’t know any more) says. He flicks his hand and Scott flies into the wall, hitting it with a cruel crack. Both Gwen and Amelia scream. Gwen moves to get Scott but the third thing, the only girl attacking them, presses the gun to Gwen’s head. “Don’t make me do something I won’t regret.”

 

“I don’t know a Castiel… I don’t know a Castiel!” Amelia screams, as though it’s the only thing she knows how to say. She’s about to see her friends get killed; if she doesn’t take the attackers attention away from Gwen and Scott, they’ll die.

 

The one holding her to the wall tightens its invisible grip on her. “Stop lying… lying’s a sin, you know.”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Amelia gasps. “But I’m not lying.”

 

There’s more shouting from outside, and some shooting. Amelia isn’t scared about that, though. She’s currently trying to not be killed by these things, whatever they are. The one not holding her or Gwen moves towards Scott and crouches down next to him. He pets Scott’s hair. “I like this… can I keep it, Kelly?”

 

“Whatever.” The girl holding a gun to Gwen rolls her eyes.

 

“Okay, then.” He grins, and leans his head back. Black smoke starts coming out of his mouth, arcing up dramatically, but then it stops going towards Scott. It goes back into the teen boy, who coughs, his eyes black as night. He snarls. “What? What the hell?”

 

“I believe the reason you couldn’t possess that boy is because he’s a fan of _Supernatural_. He has an anti-possession tattoo, demon.” Amelia recognises the voice immediately. It’s Cas.

 

She grins, despite the pain. “Cas!”

 

Cas gives her the tiniest of nods, because the thing with the black smoke decided that Cas’s entry was a good time to jump the guy. Cas shoves him off, he shoves Cas into the concrete wall, Cas pulls out a water bottle and splashes the guy with water. He screams and his face emits steam where the water hit. Cas splashes him again and shoves him to the floor, before running in and splashing the two other attackers.

 

The one holding Amelia to the wall falls, and Amelia is released from it’s grip. Cas tosses her another water bottle. “Splash anything that attacks you. Get your friend out of here; I’ll get the boy.”

 

“Cas, how did you know--?”

 

“I just did… I was lucky… now go!” Cas throws more water on one of the things, and Amelia dives behind him, grabbing Gwen’s arm. Gwen’s staring wide-eyed at everything, but Amelia doesn’t give her a chance to talk.

 

Amelia tries to pull Gwen past Scott. Gwen grabs for their friend. “We can’t just leave him!”

 

“Cas is gonna get him, don’t worry!”

 

“You still trust that guy?!” Gwen gives Amelia the look that Cesar must have given Brutus when he was betrayed by the man. Amelia nods. “He just saved our lives; we can argue about this later, but right now, we need to leave!”

 

“Not without Scott!” Gwen gets out of Amelia’s grasp and grabs Scott’s arm. She looks at Amelia with a desperation in her eyes. “Amy, he’s our friend… we can’t just leave him here…”

 

“Okay. Okay.” Amelia grabs Scott as well and together, she and Gwen carry him out of the bathroom, and out of the building. They stop at Gwen’s car because Gwen has a first aid kit in her car. Scott comes to while Gwen is searching for the kit, and he looks blearily at Amelia. “Amelia…?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“ _Next_ time you wanna bring an _angel_ home, _don’t_.” He says. Amelia raises her eyebrows. “Angel?”

 

“ _Angel_.” Scott nods. “ _Cas_ … he’s an _angel_ … because _apparently_ _Supernatural_ is a _real_ thing… or at least the _demons_ are…”

 

“So… when they said I knew Castiel…?” Amelia trails off. She’s having a hard time believing it. She wants to think that all of what Scott is saying is because of the head injury he has, but she saw those things, and she saw the black smoke…

 

“Yep.” Scott laughs; it’s hollow. “ _You_ made _friends_ with an angel. _And_ now we’re _really_ fucked over.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, Amy needs to work on her friend-making skills.


	5. His name was Cas, and he saved them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of Cas saving the day (kind of).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look another chapter. Enjoy it, my children. 
> 
> I have adopted all of you.

Scott’s head is attended to, as are the cuts on Amelia’s arms from where she had slid against the edge of the mirror. The three teens are sitting on the hood of Gwen’s car; Amelia’s watching for Cas, hoping that he survived… if Scott is right and he really is an angel, then he should be okay.

 

Gwen manages to spot him first. “Amy! Amy, its Cas… oh my God he looks horrible!”

 

Amelia turns to where Gwen is pointing, and sure enough, Cas is stumbling towards them, bruised and bleeding. Amelia gets off the hood of the car and runs toward him, Gwen and Scott right behind her. Scott reaches Cas first; even with his head injury, he’s still faster than both girls. Scott grabs Cas’s arm. “What… what happened to you?”

 

“They… they are harder to fight off than I remembered.” Cas croaks out. He looks at Amelia. “I’m sorry… this is my fault. I led them here.”

 

“ _What_?” Gwen’s eyes widen. “You led those… whatever they are… to us? On purpose?”

 

“No.” Cas shakes his head. He coughs, and some blood splatters out. He keeps talking anyway. “They have been trying to find me for three months… I think I should leave… I’m a curse if I stay too long.”

 

“No _way_.” Scott shakes his head. Amelia’s surprised; Scott was the one saying that Cas was dangerous, but now he apparently wants to keep the _stereotypical hobo serial killer_ around. Scott leans Cas down in the back seat of Gwen’s car, ignoring her remarks about how hard it’ll be to get the blood out. “ _Look_ , Cas, those _demons_ said that they were after _Castiel_. Not _Cas_. And even _if_ you _are_ Castiel, _I_ _don’t_ _care_. _You’re_ injured, and Amelia _fixes_ people. So _until_ you get _fixed_ , you’re staying with _us_. We can _fight_. _Trust_ me; we’ve been fighting our _whole_ _lives_. It’s _one_ of the perks of being _weird_.”

 

“This isn’t a fight you want to be a part of.” Cas shakes his head. “These things… they do not care who you are. They just kill you.”

 

“I _know_ , Cas. I _read_ the damn _series_.” Scott says.

 

“When did we start talking about books?” Gwen asks, and raises her hand like she’s in class. Scott ignores her, so she turns to Amelia. “Is he really talking about that Supernatural crap? Is it really real?”

 

“No.” Cas shakes his head, violently, desperately, because he’s trying to convince Gwen, Scott, and Amelia that the monsters aren’t real. He’s trying to keep them away from a life they should have no part of. He can’t, because they’re already a part of it. Cas continues the shaking. “No… no, there is nothing… it’s not real. It’s not real. None of it is real. I need to go to… a hospital. Or something.”

 

“No, you _don’t_.” Scott says. He narrows his eyes. “Cas, _look_ , I _read_ the series. I _know_ who you _are_. You’re Cas, _or_ Castiel. You’re _the_ angel; _everything_ fits. Just use your _angel_ _mojo_ and _fix_ yourself. You’ll be _fine_.”

 

“I have no angel mojo.”

 

“ _What_?” Scott raises an eyebrow, very Spock-like. “But…”

 

“I fell. They all fell.” Cas growls, turning away from the three teens. He turns back, but only so that Amelia can see him. “That’s why Sam and Dean hate me… I am the reason that all of the angels fell. I messed up, I made too many mistakes, and I ruined all of it. I am a curse. You three still have a life, so I suggest you forget about me and go live.”

 

“No, Cas.” Amelia says. She folds her hands over her chest. “I don’t know much about your world, but I learned one quote, the thing that me, Scott, and Gwen live by: _family don’t end in blood_. You’re family, Cas, and we’re not letting this go.”

 

“You should…” Cas starts, but Amelia puts her hand up. “We should, but we aren’t. I’m in this. Until whatever end there is. I’ll help you make it right. I promise.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia, Gwen, and Scott wait outside the hospital while Cas gets fixed up. They all look like they want to talk about the past two hours of their lives, but they are all too terrified to speak.

 

After a few more minutes of dreadful silence, Gwen starts talking. “Okay, that was really weird… I mean, was he actually an angel or was he just pretending? How do we know… how do we know that any of this is real? What if he’s making this all up?”

 

“We _don’t_ know.” Scott says. He shrugs, pressing the ice-pack to his head once again. “I _mean_ , _part_ of me thinks that _Supernatural_ being _real_ would be _Frenchly_ _awesome_ , but at the same _time_ , that _means_ that there are _demons_ as well as _really_ _hot_ _guys_ … _and_ demons that _are_ really hot guys.”

 

“Cas told me that he had once been friends with a Sam and Dean, before he messed up.” Amelia says. Both of her friends turn to look at her, and she sinks into the rather uncomfortable chair. “What? He did. It was on his first day at my house… he said that he saved Dean, and that when his family had rejected him, Sam and Dean had taken him in. I believed him then, and I believe him now.”

 

“This… is a lot to take in at once.” Gwen says, wiping her forehead. She looks from Scott to Amelia. “So, when you two said you wanted a part of this… does that mean that we’re, like, modern-day Ghostbusters or something?”

 

“No, _because_ we are _not_ … or at least _I_ _am_ _not_ … going after _monsters_. All we’ve gotta _do_ is keep the _demons_ away from Cas _until_ we find out where _his_ Dean and his Sam _are_.” Scott shifts in his seat. “There’s _no_ _reason_ to get more involved in _hunting_ than _necessary_. Hunting _isn’t_ a _fun_ profession. Seen it on _paper_.”

 

Gwen and Amelia nod, and they sit in silence until the nurse comes out and tells them that Cas is doing better and that he can go home now. Gwen drives Amelia and Cas back to the Cabots’ house, then goes to drop Scott off. Cas and Amelia walk up the driveway, Amelia glancing at Cas every few seconds; his past may still be a mystery to her, but at least some things have become clear.

 

The garage door opens before Amelia and Cas get to it. Amelia jumps, but it’s only her mother, running out with tears streaking down her face. She runs to Amelia and wraps her arms around her daughter, sobbing. “Oh my God! Oh my God! My baby… you’re alright, I saw the whole thing on the news… I saw Scott… his head, his bleeding head… you poor things, but you’re alright… you’re alright…”

 

“Mom.”

 

“Amy… Amy…” Mrs. Cabot continues to squeeze the life out of her youngest daughter. Amelia has to push her mother away to be able to breathe. Mrs. Cabot wipes her eyes, then notices Cas standing off to the side, looking awkward and out of place. She goes up to him and hugs him as well. “Thank you… you went in there… you went in there, into the school, and you fought those kids… you saved my daughter, my daughter and her friends… thank you, thank you, thank you!”

 

“You… you are welcome?” Cas says.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Eventually, Cas and Amelia get Mrs. Cabot inside, and she explains the whole news story that she saw: three teens brought guns into Derry North High School and started shooting down students, the building wasn’t able to be put on lock down because most of the school was trying to escape, the police couldn’t get in but one reporter managed to see a man in a trench coat push through the fleeing students, into the building. Twenty minutes later, the same man (Cas) came out, bloodied and claiming that the situation had been taken care of; he had then disappeared off into the parking lot, dodging questions from every reporter.

 

Mrs. Cabot smiles through her tears at Cas. “You’re a hero.”

 

“Thank you… but I’m not a hero. I just didn’t want to see your daughter get hurt…” Cas says. Amelia knows the rest of the story: Cas thinks it’s his fault that the demons attacked Amelia in the first place.

 

“Well, you’re modest. That’s nice.” Mrs. Cabot smiles. She stands up and straightens her slacks. “Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. …?”

 

“Winchester. I suppose.” Cas says. He doesn’t have a surname; why would he? For most of his life, he was an angel. The only surname he could consider for himself would be that of the two brothers who treated him like family: Sam and Dean Winchester.

 

Mrs. Cabot nods. “Mr. Winchester. Is there anything I can do for you, since you’re our guest?”

 

“I… I would like a phone.” Cas says. He looks to Amelia. “I need to try to call someone.”

 

Mrs. Cabot leaves the room to go get the phone. Once she’s gone, Amelia turns to her friend. “Which one are you going to call?”

 

“Dean.”

 

“Okay.” Amelia says. She gives Cas a reassuring smile. “We’ll find them, Cas. Don’t worry.”


	6. His name was Cas, but he just wanted his family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really tired but I needed to post a chapter. I apologise for any spelling mistakes.

Amelia’s senior year finishes with no other attacks; the one with the demons was written off as three kids who were unsettled, and the news stopped running stories on it by the middle of June. Amelia’s graduation was held off so that a memorial service could be held for the five students that had been killed by the demons.

 

Amelia didn’t know any of them personally, but she went to the service any way. Cas tagged along as well, choosing to lurk in the background instead of joining Amelia in the crowd. Amelia understood; people knew Cas’s face now, and Cas wasn’t quite sure what to do with the attention. There was something more, Cas had mentioned something off-hand about how the last time he was on people’s radar, it wasn’t for anything good, but Amelia let it go. She didn’t need to know every detail of Cas’s past.

 

Her graduation was quiet. People clapped for their kids, but the murders were still fresh in everyone’s mind. The whole town of Derry seemed quiet after the event, and so Amelia, Scott, and Gwen went with it. It was best to be quiet; they knew the truth, but the truth would put them into a crazy house.

 

Two days after Amelia graduates, she gets a call from Gwen. Amelia is in her room when she gets the call, reorganising everything she owns. It’s a thing she did to relax herself.

 

“Hey, Gwen… what’s up?” Amelia says. She sets her shirt down, not yet folded. “I mean, what’s the sitch?”

 

“My dad’s asking me what really went down at school… you know, with the _things_ … what do I tell him?” Gwen sounds panicked, which is no surprise, seeing as Gwen’s really bad at lying. When the police had asked Gwen for her statement, Amelia had been with her and had been the one to do most of the talking.

 

Amelia can’t do the talking for Gwen over the phone. She sighs. “Okay, Gwen, remember what I told the cops? Just say that.”

 

“I did… that’s the problem!” Amelia can see Gwen in her bedroom, leaned against the wall, barely holding back tears of fear. Fear of being caught, fear of being called crazy, maybe even the fear that her dad’s possessed and is trying to interrogate her.

 

They don’t know what happened to the demons after Cas took over. They just know that in the fifteen minutes between the three of them leaving and Cas leaving, the demons left, and the kids they were possessing were killed. Amelia doesn’t know the order of events, and she’s not sure she wants to ask Cas to clarify.

 

Amelia takes a deep breath. “He doesn’t believe you?”

 

“No! I told you… he can tell when I’m lying! It’s why I can never get away with anything!” Gwen’s voice is getting more and more strained.

 

“Okay, okay.” Amelia runs her hand through her hair. “I’ll be over there in ten minutes… should I bring Cas?”

 

“Does Cas know the story?”

 

“Yes.” Amelia’s pretty sure that Cas knows the story, because he’s the one who told her what to tell the cops if they came asking questions. One of the things that Cas picked up on while with the Winchester brothers (the Sam and Dean that Amelia promised to help him find) was that the cops don’t believe in the supernatural side of things. Lying is okay if it is better for everyone.

 

“Bring him… he’s the one who saved us, in both scenarios, so my dad’ll have to believe him.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Gwen’s father isn’t anything special. He’s Cas’s height, a broader build than the Cas Amelia knows, but the Cas Amelia knows is still underfed and still looks like a scared man in a trench coat.

 

He takes one look at Cas, with his ruffled hair, huge trench coat, and stubble because Amelia can’t convince the man (angel? whatever) to do anything unless he wants to, and asks, “ _you’re_ the man that ran into the school and saved those kids?”

 

“Yes. That was me.” Cas nods, a single downward motion of the head. “I was… I was not aware at the time that it would become such a large feat. I was just doing what I thought I was supposed to do.”

 

“Well, you were supposed to stand back and let the cops do their jobs. They’re the ones with the bullet-proof vests, you know.” Gwen’s father says, a smile appearing under his mustache. Cas doesn’t see the smile. He tilts his head to the side, confused. “I’m… sorry?”

 

“Don’t apologise, son. Gwen, my daughter, she said one of the punks was pointing a gun to her head when you came in and jumped all three of ‘em.”

 

“That’s correct.” Cas says. He pauses, and gives Gwen’s father another one of his looks. “Except, I’m not your son. I have no biological connection to you.”

 

“It’s an expression, Cas.” Amelia offers from the sofa, where she and Gwen are sitting, watching the exchange between father and angel. Cas gives his version of a nod again, but he still looks a bit confused. Amelia totally understands that; Cas isn’t from here, and so he doesn’t know what’s going on. He’s naïve to the ways of humans, even though he’s been around them for five years.

 

Of course, five years for Cas is like five minutes for the average man. Cas has been around a while, just not _here_.

 

“Anyway,” Gwen’s father pulls Cas back into their conversation. “I want to know what really happened in there. Something had to have made those kids go nuts… and why’d you let them kill themselves?”

 

Cas freezes. The part where the demons killed themselves is new to Amelia. Cas looks over at her, and she gives the subtlest of shrugs so that Gwen’s father won’t notice. Cas turns back to Gwen’s father. “I… didn’t know they were dead. I thought… well, I said some words to them, and I thought I had talked them down, so I left. I thought the situation had been dealt with.”

 

Cas looks down at the ground. “If I had known… I wouldn’t have left them to die. They were just kids, they did not deserve what happened to them.”

 

“Just _kids_?!” Gwen’s father’s face blows up in a violent shade of red. Cas snaps to attention, his blue eyes wide. Gwen’s father looks like he wants to punch a wall, or punch Cas. “Those _kids_ killed seven people and injured twenty-three, two of which are in this room at the moment! I think they deserved what they got!”

 

“Then we will have to agree to disagree on this matter.” Cas says. His voice is cold, and Amelia has a feeling that this Cas is the Cas that pulled a man from the depths of hell, the soldier that smote everything in his path. This is the Cas that people were scared of before they knew who he was. Cas turns to Amelia. “I think this conversation is over. Amelia, we should go. We’ve outstayed our welcome here.”

 

“Um… yeah. Sure, Cas…” Amelia stands up. She looks down at Gwen. “Bye… I’ll see you around, I guess.”

 

“Yeah, you too, Amelia.” Gwen gives her friend an awkward smile. The two girls hug and then Amelia and Cas leave. Amelia starts driving them home, turning up the volume of her music to drown out the tense silence between her and the angel in the passenger seat.

 

To get from Gwen’s house to Amelia’s house, Amelia has to get on a two-lane highway that stretches from north Maine-slash-Canada to Connecticut, where it jumps onto a major highway. It’s on that stretch of road that Amelia starts asking questions. “Cas, if you’re an angel… why didn’t you just smite the demons?”

 

“They were possessing those students… the reason the students died was because the demons possessing them must have shot their vessels…” Cas says. Amelia glances over at him; he’s looking out the window. He looks back as Amelia turns her attention to the road. “And, I’m not an angel. Not anymore. I fell… along with all of the other angels.”

 

“Oh.” Amelia says. That’s news to her. “What happened?”

 

“I’d rather not talk about it.” Cas says. Amelia hears him shuffling around beside her, but she doesn’t look at him; she’s more concerned about keeping them from getting into an accident. Cas continues. “I’m human now. It’s why I sleep, and eat, and why I couldn’t save those people. I exorcised the demons, and I thought that the people inside would be fine.”

 

“Cas, it’s not your fault.” Amelia says, because it’s really not. “You couldn’t have known that the people were already dead inside. And besides, you saved our lives. You got rid of the demons so that they couldn’t hurt anyone else.”

 

“But there are more demons.” Cas sounds so defeated, like a man who has fought the same battle for years, only to lose everything every single time. “There are more monsters… it’s near impossible to stop them.”

 

Amelia slams on the brake and pulls the car over to the side of the road. She turns herself so that she’s facing Cas, and glares at him. “Castiel not-actually-a-Winchester-but-I-don’t-care Winchester, shut up.”

 

Cas gives her the head tilt. Amelia takes a deep breath and continues. “Yeah, I told you to shut up. Why? Because you are being a complete asswipe at the moment, and I hate asswipes. I hate them because they’ve given up on life while I’m over here working my ass off and getting weird looks for saving them. I don’t get thanked, and I don’t care. I’m not thought of a hero because I helped some teen mom and her two kids get an apartment and get a degree. No. I’m thought of a freak and a danger to society because I keep bringing in street rats, like you when I first found you, and treating them like the humans they are. I don’t complain because I realised that no one else is gonna help. This is my job, Cas, and hunting demons, saving people, protecting them from monsters, that’s yours. So suck it up.”

 

“You sounded like Dean for a moment.” Cas says. He has this sad little smile on his face; the memories of Dean are somewhere between nostalgic and bittersweet. Amelia runs a hand through her hair. “I said I would help you, and I mean that. But if I’m going to help you, you’ve gotta be prepared for the idea of hunting. With me. Because I’m not letting you do this alone.”

 

“Okay.” Cas nods. He does the head tilt thing again. “Do you even know how to hunt?”

 

“Nope.” Amelia grins. “But, this job isn’t about hunting. It’s about finding your boys, and getting you home.”

 


	7. His name was Cas, and no one believed him

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Road trip time.

Amelia calls her parents and tells them that she’s not going to be home for a bit, because she has to do something. They don’t question her, and so she and Cas get to go off in search of two monster-hunting brothers.

 

Of course, the most sure fire way to find two monster hunters is to find monster hunts. So that’s what Amelia spends her summer vacation doing: finding jobs that the Winchesters might be on and going after the freaks of the night, side-kick to a renegade fallen angel.

 

June becomes July, and Cas and Amelia find themselves out in Colorado. Amelia’s not sure how they got there, only that they’re hunting a vampire nest that apparently has a thing for the Rockies. They’re staying in a motel that smells like pine trees, which is nice, but it also bothers Amelia a bit, seeing as all of the other motels they’ve stayed at have smelled like sweat or sex or something gross that doesn’t have a name yet.

 

Amelia’s not worrying about the motel’s smell now. She’s focused on the vamps. It’s daytime, and the nest is quiet. Cas is beside her; both of them have their machetes in hand and are ready to go as soon as Cas deems it clear.

 

Cas nods, they burst from the trees. The door creaks open silently, and the slaughtering begins. The vampires start waking up, and the fighting gets dangerous. It’s dark in the nest, and Amelia and Cas find themselves with their backs to each other, slashing at anything that bites.

 

They clear out the nest in an hour and twenty minutes, then head back to the hotel. Then the wound cleaning, and the stitching.

 

They leave town the next morning, because Amelia catches wind of some demonic omens in northern Arizona.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

The demons know Cas and Amelia. They knew that the pair was coming, and so Amelia and Cas don’t have a chance. Amelia gets knocked out and wakes up in a cage. She doesn’t know where Cas is.

 

She’s not sure if she should scream or not. She stays silent for now, hoping that doing so will extend her time here a bit longer so that she’ll have a better chance of getting out alive and finding Cas.

 

She made a promise to Cas two months ago. She’s not backing down from that promise.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Two days later, and Amelia’s still alive. Hungrier than she’s ever been in her life, but alive. She’s lying on the floor of her cage. It’s nasty, but she’s too tired to sit up and the wall of the cage is too far away.

 

She hears a scream. It’s a girl’s scream, and she cries, three silent tears ripping down her grimy face. She doesn’t know who the girl was, and she probably never will. She wonders, vaguely, if Cas is still here or if he managed to escape. She also wonders why the demons are keeping her alive.

 

They’re demons. Demons kill and move on. They don’t keep someone alive unless they’re planning on using that someone as bait.

 

Amelia has a feeling that she’s the bait, and that Cas is the fish.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Back in Derry, Scott and Gwen are sitting at a coffee shop, talking to a fed about the disappearance of their friend. They’ve both decided that Cas was a fraud; Sam and Dean were never real, the demons weren’t actually demons (Amelia was the only one who had seen their “black eyes.” anyway, and she could have been drugged by Cas that morning), and Cas had kidnapped Amelia. Why else would she just disappear? Sure, she had told her mother she wouldn’t be back for a while, but two months was too long for Scott and Gwen to feel comfortable about their friend being gone.

 

The federal officer talking to them was nice. She had long red hair and bangs, and she introduced herself as Agent Tolkien, yes, like the guy who wrote LOTR. It was only a coincidence, apparently. The agent leaned forward; she hadn’t yet touched her coffee. “Okay, start from the beginning, from where you guys first met ‘Cas’.”

 

“He was _creeping_ around the comic book store Amy _and_ I work at, _and_ he was _always_ reading the _same_ _series_.” Scott said. He took a long drink of his coffee. “ _Supernatural_ , you know, the one he based his _fake_ _life_ off of. I _bet_ he didn’t think _anyone_ would _get_ _it_ , but _I_ did, because _I’ve_ read the _whole_ series.”

 

“I have too.” Agent Tolkien nods. She smiles a bit, like she’s hiding a secret; Scott just figures that’s a cop thing. “I bet you that Dean’s secretly a total geek.”

 

“What? _Dean_? No _way_ , he’s too much of a _stud_.” Scott laughs and shakes his head. He waves his hand dramatically. “ _Anyway_ , so one day, like… May _tenth_ or something… I went up to Amy and told _her_ to make him buy _something_ or _leave_. It’s store policy. _So_ , she does, _but_ the _next_ day he comes _back_.”

 

Gwen butts in as Scott takes a breath. “Amy had a habit of taking in strays.”

 

“Strays?” Agent Tolkien raises her left eyebrow, looking like a red-headed, female version of Spock. Or something.

 

“Stray _people_.” Scott takes back his story. “Like, homeless _bums_ or _runaways_ or _orphans_. People like _that_.”

 

“So she was drawn to Cas?” Agent Tolkien makes a note in her notepad, her pen scratching away. She looks up when she’s finished. “Continue.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

On her third day there, the demons throw her a slice of toast and a water bottle. They tell her they want her alive, which doesn’t help her slowly growing fear that the demons are trying to reel Cas in through her.

 

She gulps down some water first, then the toast. The toast doesn’t do much to stop her hunger, but she isn’t stupid enough to complain.

 

The demon leaves, and a few minutes later, there are more screams. The screams are female again, just like the first girl that was killed. Amelia cries again; the demons have to be leaving a body trail, hoping to bring Cas back so that he’ll get caught.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

The demons have Cas in a secluded room, tied up and in a ring of holy fire. They don’t seem to believe that he’s no longer an angel. Cas doesn’t know if this is a good thing or not. He can still be killed with an angel blade, but the demons have to find an angel blade first. They don’t think they can kill him without one.

 

One of the demons enters the room, a cruel grin on his face. “Your bitch thinks you escaped. She also thinks you forgot about her… isn’t that cute?”

 

“I do not see how Amelia’s lack of knowledge of my current state can be classified as adorable.” Cas understands the slang that the demon is using, but he knows better than to act like he does. The demons here think he’s an angel. Angel Cas doesn’t understand that reference, and so Angel Cas just tilts his head and responds like an angel.

 

Cas wishes he had never dragged Amelia into this. She should be at home, preparing to go off to college, having fun with her two friends. She shouldn’t be held captive by demons. She shouldn’t even know that demons exist.

 

The demon rolls his eyes. “I forgot how ignorant you can get. Maybe I should bring her in here and slit her throat in front of you… I wanna see you angry, angel.”

 

“Why _don’t_ you bring her in here and kill her? I’ve heard the screams; it would not be the first virgin you’ve killed this week.” Cas says, narrowing his eyes. He has to pretend that he’s not afraid of this demon; he has to pretend that the only thing in this room that scares him is the holy fire surrounding him.

 

The demon laughs. “Because, we’re waiting for _real_ hunters to come. You know, your favourite human and his baby brother?”

 

Cas narrows his eyes. Dean and Sam won’t come for Cas. They don’t even know Cas is still alive, and even if they did, the last time Cas saw the Winchester brothers, they were both angry at him.

 

Or at least Dean was.

 

The demon steps forward, staying outside the ring of holy fire. “Now, Castiel, we can save a few pretty virgin girls, your little bitch included, and you can tell me where the Winchesters are.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should update the tags on all my stories.


	8. His name was Cas, but they thought he was dead

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gwen and Scott continue to help with the investigation. Cas needs a hug. Amelia has a stronger resolve than most eighteen year old girls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I recently learned that Supernatural killed off Charlie. Which is rude, and will be ignored because I stopped watching the show after Abaddon died. 
> 
> The sequel to this is going to be interesting, considering how little I know about the current Supernatural universe.

Agent Tolkien shakes Gwen and Scott’s hands and thanks them for their information, as well as the coffee. She never drank any of hers, and so Gwen has to throw it out. Tolkien leaves the coffee shop behind, and once the two kids are out of her line of sight, she pulls out her smartphone and calls Dean.

 

“Charlie?”

 

She smiles. “Yep, the one and only. And you were right, there was a demon attack… there was also a guardian angel… in a trench coat.”

 

“Not funny, Charlie.” Dean grates. If Charlie could see him, she knows that Dean would be giving his best _I have not a fuck to give but yet I’m still going to get defensive_ look. This is Castiel they’re talking about, after all.

 

Dean continues. “Cas is dead, Charlie. I stopped trying to contact him months ago.”

 

“Then explain why I have two witnesses who just told me that their friend went off with, and I quote,” Charlie pulled out her notepad, flipping to where she had quoted the kids, “ _this guy with dark hair and a trench coat, with really fucking blue eyes, who kept talking about how he had pissed off the Sam and Dean from that Supernatural series_. Go on, Dean, I challenge you to explain how that’s not Cas.”

 

There was silence on the other end. Charlie grinned, she was right, and perhaps now she’d get some sort of Cas-based confession from Dean.

 

“Where the hell is the feathered son of a bitch anyway?” Or not. Dean was always one to disappoint. Charlie knew; she’d read the books and she had _felt_ the sexual tension between angel and hunter. It was that blaringly obvious. And since everything in those books was real…

 

“I don’t know… but the girl did say that Amelia, that’s the missing friend, and Cas had been talking about finding hunts to try to find you and Sam.” Charlie says. She puts her notepad away. “We could start searching hunts that have cleared up in the past two months.”

 

“Yeah.” Dean says. There’s the slightest bit of hope in his voice, but he’s afraid to let it slip out because he’s afraid to believe that Cas is alive. Dean coughs, a very not-subtle way to clear the emotions. “Get your ass to the bunker. Sam’s gonna need back-up.”

 

“Got it.” Charlie answers, and hangs up. She strides to her car with a grin on her face. She’s got two reasons to be smiling: one, she’s probably going to meet the Castiel when all of this is done, and two, she’ll get to witness first-hand the whole hunter-angel eyesex that everyone talks about online.

 

This is going to be a fun ride.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Three agents show up at the doorsteps of Cathy Jones’s house. Two weeks ago, Cathy’s daughter had gone missing. Three days ago, her daughter had been found, ripped to pieces, with a skicky note on her chest. Cathy’s daughter was the fifth in a string of murders.

 

“I already talked to the police… why is the FBI investigating this?” Cathy sobs. The taller of the two men, the one with a mane of hair that Cathy thinks shouldn’t be allowed in the FBI in the first place, hands her a box of tissues and says, “we’re just trying to connect the five girls, and to make sure that no more girls have to end up like them.”

 

“Like my Jessalyn?” Cathy sniffs, running her fingers over Jessalyn’s yearbook photo.

 

“Like your daughter.” The other man, the one with a pretty boy face, nods. “We don’t want any more deaths like this one, so could you tell me… was Jessalyn acting strange before she disappeared?”

 

“No, no, she was completely normal… the… what did the note mean? It said…” Cathy chokes back a sob. The red-haired woman pats her hand. Cathy nods to her. “Thank you. The note said ‘ _what’s taking so long? Don’t you want your angel back?_ ’ What does that mean?”

 

The red-haired woman and the taller man look at the agent between them. Cathy does as well; this agent… Agent Monroe? She isn’t sure… but this agent has some sort of theory as to what the note meant. Cathy wipes away her tears. “Agent? Do you know?”

 

Agent Monroe (Cathy was going to refer to him as that unless he gave her another name) swallows. “We… did any agents come by when your daughter was first kidnapped?”

 

Cathy pauses, thinking back. She nods. “Yes, actually. A man and a woman, though the woman looked like she had just gotten into the agency… she would have a hard time passing for twenty-five. The man was in a trench coat, which I thought was odd for the beginning of August, especially here.”

 

Agent Monroe looks at the taller agent, then at the woman. They all seem to be realising the same thing, though Cathy has no idea what. Monroe turns back to her. “Those agents… they went missing, and we think that whoever killed your daughter has them as well.”

 

“Someone kidnapped federal agents?” Cathy gasps. “But, how?”

 

“There are some psychos out there that just don’t know when to stop, Mrs. Jones.” The red-haired agent says. “But don’t worry. We’re better than them, and now that we know that they aren’t afraid of us, we’ll know what precautions to take.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia thinks she’s been here for a week. She lost track of time a while ago, and it’s gotten to the point where she’s only thinking about three things: how hungry she is, the fact that she smells like… week old person, and wondering what happened to Cas. He should have come back for her by now. They were supposed to have each others’ backs.

 

She can only come up with two legitimate reasons as to why Cas isn’t here yet. Either he’s dead, or the demons caught him. She refuses to think that he found Dean and Sam before he found her, and decided to stay with them. Cas wouldn’t do that.

 

A demon comes by with another water bottle, but no toast. It leans down and wraps it’s fingers around the bars of her cell. “I really wish we could just kill you, but we have to keep you alive. The angel needs to know you’re alive… because as long as you’re alive, we can push him around…”

 

Amelia pulls all of her saliva together and spits into the demon’s face. She doesn’t care that it won’t have any effect, she doesn’t care that the demon throws her against the wall, her skull colliding with metal.

 

The last thing she thinks before she passes out, from hunger or pain or exhaustion, is _they have Cas. He’s alive. He’s still okay…_

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

The demon with the white-blonde hair slams the door open. She stalks across the room, to Cas, standing so close to the fire that Cas wonders if her shoes are melting. She glares at him. “Where are they, Castiel? Where are the Winchesters, and why the hell haven’t they come to pick up their favourite baby in a trench coat?”

 

“They think I am dead.” Cas says, because that’s the only truth he wants to tell the demon in front of him. He doesn’t know whether the demon is male or female, only that the human they are possessing is a mid-thirties woman with a pale face. The black eyes reflect the fire. “Don’t lie, angel. Where are the Winchesters?”

 

“I do not know.” Cas says. He hopes that they haven’t hurt Amelia. He knows that they probably have, but that they won’t kill her. They’re saving her for when the Winchesters come and save Cas. When Dean and Sam are getting Cas out, one of the demons will get Amelia and put her in front of the three of them, then kill her, making it bloody and painful.

 

Cas knows this because the demons told him. They also told him that he should be lucky they don’t know where any of the angel swords are.

 

Cas knows he’s lucky. He wishes he could give his luck to Amelia. She deserves it more than him; she’s still pure, and good. She only wants to save lives and give people homes to come back to.

 

Dean would like her. Sam would like her too, but Dean would like Amelia especially because she has the same core as him: family. Her goal for Cas was to bring him to his family, to bring him home. Dean would have helped, if Dean had known.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a few more chapters, and then I'll start publishing some short stories about Amelia's life after Castiel. I've already posted one, in case you want to read.


	9. His name was Cas, and they came to save him

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I'm a damsel. I'm in distress. I can handle this."
> 
> -Amelia Cabot, probably

Dean ends up with the knife; Charlie and Sam get guns and holy water. Dean goes in first, his face set in either anger or concentration. It could be both; Charlie doesn’t know him well enough to tell the difference. Sam keeps giving his brother worried looks. Charlie would too, but she knows Dean can handle himself. As long as Cas is still alive, Dean will come out of this hunt as okay as he was going in.

 

Not that he was really okay before the hunt, but he’s been worse. Charlie knows, because she read the books.

 

She kind of feels guilty for stepping into the boys’ lives without their permission, but she didn’t know that those books were real when she had first picked them up. And then Castiel had come in the picture and Charlie knew she was into it.

 

The only time Charlie had ever seen sexual tension like that would have to have been between Kirk and Spock, and the only reason they hadn’t become a thing was because it was the 1960’s and people just didn’t do that.

 

Well, it was 2013 now, and if a man wanted to screw an angel every way he knew, then a man could screw an angel every way he knew.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Charlie stays close to Sam, but Dean immediately rushes away, bent on ripping the place apart until he finds Cas. Sam shakes his head. “This is ridiculous.”

 

“No it’s not. We’re saving people… and throwing a few demons back into the pit.” Charlie says with what she hopes is a convincing smile. Sam sighs, and Charlie realises he wasn’t talking about the hunt. She nods. “So, you’ve noticed it too?”

 

“Noticed it?” Sam looks at her incredulously. “Charlie, I’ve had to deal with it ever since… well, ever since the apocalypse, pretty much. If this goes well and we get Cas back, I am going to lock them in a closet and refuse to open the door until they… you know.”

 

“I know.” Charlie says, and then the Dean-Cas conversation is cut off because demons happen. They throw both Sam and Charlie off in different directions, Sam crashing against a cage and Charlie slamming back-first into a wall. She wonders, sometimes, how the hell Sam and Dean are still in one piece.

 

Charlie stands back up and hurls a splash of holy water into the demon’s face. He screams and backs up. Charlie hits him again, and goes for the gun. He flings it away from her, and grabs her neck. She kicks at him, and he only laughs. “So… you’re Dean’s replacement? You’re not much… not really.”

 

“Hey. Hellbitch.” A voice that’s not Sam’s or Dean’s (and is too female to be anything close to what Charlie thinks Cas would sound like) says. Charlie and the demon both turn their heads to look over at Sam, only to see that there’s a teenage girl holding his gun, her finger on the trigger. She narrows her eyes. “Let the ginger go and you’ll walk away in one piece.”

 

“No I won’t.”

 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Sam says. He grabs the gun back from the girl and shoots the demon straight in the chest. It evaporates and Charlie drops to the ground. She stands back up and walks over to Sam and the girl. “Is she the one?”

 

“You mean, was I the one with Cas?” The girl leans against her cage. Charlie can see her legs shaking. Sam turns to Charlie, away from the kid. “Charlie, take Amelia to… somewhere. Hospital or something. I’ll find Dean.”

 

“But…” Charlie and Amelia say at the same time. Charlie’s excuse is that she can help, that the more hunters they have here, the easier it’ll be. Amelia’s excuse is that she needs to see Cas, to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid like get himself killed.

 

The look Sam gives them makes their excuses die off in their throats. This is brother business, or Team Free Will business, seeing as Cas is involved. Charlie and Amelia aren’t to that level of Winchester yet, and so Charlie motions for Amelia to follow her out, keeping an eye out for any more demons. It’s the last thing they need, but Charlie knows how much a person’s luck dies when they get involved with anything remotely Winchester.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia isn’t sure when she passes out, but it’s after she gets in the yellow car that belongs to the red-head who got her out of the demon-infested building. When she wakes up, she’s being dragged towards a door in a ditch, by the same woman who got her out.

 

Everything in this situation is sketchy, even for a girl who followed a grown man across the country to find two fictional characters.

 

Amelia throws out her fist, colliding with the red-head’s jaw. The red-head lets go of her, and Amelia stumbles to the wall. She’s weak; the only way she had been able to take on that demon back there was because of the adrenaline rush and the man (he had said his name was Sam and she had believed him) freeing her from her prison cell. Now, the adrenaline was gone, and she realised how much the demons had drained her. Her fists shook. “Who are you? Where are we?”

 

“I’m Charlie. I’m a friend of Sam and Dean’s.” She said. She sounded honest enough. Amelia wasn’t letting her guard down, though. This Charlie could be possessed, after all.

 

Charlie pointed to the door. “Inside there is… well, Dean calls it the Batcave, but it’s cooler than that. It’s… hunter-central, pretty much. Think top-secret base camp for all who know about the weird.”

 

“Why should I trust you?”

 

“Because Sam told me to get you somewhere safe, and this is safe.” Charlie says, and shrugs. “We can either argue, or… we can go inside. And trust me, you wanna see this. It’s ten levels of awesome.”

 

“Okay…” Amelia says, wary. She reaches for the knife she usually has on her body; it’s still there, which means that this Charlie woman hasn’t searched her. Charlie strides ahead and opens the door, smiling. Amelia has a feeling that if she ever met Scott, the two would probably start geeking out over anything and everything. Charlie just has that _I’ve been to every comic convention ever_ vibe.

 

Amelia’s good with vibes.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

The building (Amelia isn’t quite sure what to call it; it’s too nice to be a bunker but it’s built like a secret organization’s bunker) is definitely something out of a novel. Maybe not ten levels of awesome like Charlie described it, but it’s got at least seven.

 

Maybe eight, if it’s got magical abilities to make Amelia suddenly not worn out.

 

Amelia stumbles to the center table, which has a large map of the world printed on it. She falls into a chair and lets out a shuddering breath of air. She traces the southern tip of South America with her finger, and looks up at Charlie, who is leaning against the doorframe. “What is this place?”

 

“Um… Men of Letters secret hide-out thing.” She shrugs. “Sam and Dean just live here whenever they’re not out killing monsters… I live here on occasion too.”

 

“Just you three?”

 

“Actually, no.” Charlie looks over her shoulder, out into a stairwell which could lead anywhere. “There’s this kid, Kevin, and he stays here sometimes. He’s a prophet… and there’s also this guy Crowley who was a demon but isn’t anymore… I don’t really know.”

 

“So… is this some sort of hunter base camp?” Amelia looks around. She could see how it would work; there are a lot of books, probably filled with accurate lore on ever creature ever. Hunters could drop in, get what they needed, maybe stay to clean up, and keep going. Hotel Monster Hunting.

 

“No, the guys would _not_ be okay with a bunch of random people coming in and out of here.” Charlie shakes her head. “They only let in the people they trust.”

 

“So they trust a demon?” Amelia doesn’t trust demons. She doesn’t see how anyone could. Demons _suck_.

 

“Again, don’t know the whole Crowley situation.” Charlie moves away from the doorframe. “All I know is that Sam told me not to mess with him, so I don’t mess with him.”

 

“Okay.” Amelia nods. She looks around. “Can I have a sandwich or something?”

 

“Probably the or something, seeing as I have no idea how well stocked this place is, but yeah.” Charlie starts off towards the stairs, then pokes her head back around. She points at Amelia. “Don’t do anything stupid, like move or try to leave.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Only a few more chapters left, friends.
> 
> Next chapter featuring Cas and Dean and their never ending UST.


	10. His name was Cas, and he didn't want to survive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Castiel and Amelia comes to a close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for depression/suicidal thoughts and violence.

Cas hears screaming. He hears shots being fired, and he gets hopeful. He hopes that the hunters, whoever they may be, have found Amelia and any other girls that the demons took, and are getting them out.

 

Cas doesn’t expect to be found. He realises that he’s okay with never being found. He’s okay with wasting away while the demons try to find an angel blade that won’t ever be found.

 

There aren’t any angel blades left, because there aren’t any angels left. Cas is to be blamed for that. He’s the reason they fell. He tried to fix everything, and it only went further to hell. He should have known better, because any time he tries to fix something, he only manages to make it worse.

 

Maybe he should have stopped trying a long time ago.

 

More gunshots. Some swearing. He hears a familiar phrase, and that alone nearly breaks him. The demons don’t even have to touch him to make him break. Cas just has to hear _his_ voice.

 

_Son of a bitch._

 

 _Son of a bitch_. That’s what Cas heard.

 

Dean’s. That was the voice Cas heard the words in.

 

Cas doesn’t want Dean here. He doesn’t want to have to see Dean again, because he doesn’t think he can face the hunter. Not after this; not after Cas destroyed his family. _Both_ of his families. The angels are Cas’s family, just like Sam and Dean are Cas’s family, and Cas hurt all of them.

 

Dean’s reason for waking up in the morning is to fix families. To bring someone home, safe. That’s why he keeps going. That’s why he can’t let Sam go. Dean won’t lose his family.

 

Dean has to lose Cas. Cas can’t let Dean find him.

 

He can’t get out. He’s restrained too well. These demons know what they’re doing.

 

They know what they’re doing, but they don’t know what Cas really is. Cas realises this, and turns his head to the demon watching to door with a smirk on its face. It knows that Dean is close; it thinks that Dean will find Cas. Cas isn’t sure that’s what he wants. “Demon.”

 

“Angel…” The demon purrs.

 

“Actually, no.” Cas says. “I am a human. I fell, we all fell.”

 

“What?” The demon gives Cas a confused smile. “What are you talking about?”

 

“The holy fire will burn me like it would burn any other human, but I can still walk through it.” Cas says. He looks past the demon, to the door. “However, a gun will kill me, same as it would kill the hunter firing it.”

 

“So you’re saying…?” The demon’s grin broadens. Cas nods. “Yes. I’m killable.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Dean didn’t realise how many demons there would be until they swarmed him. He didn’t think he would get out of the swarm and find Cas until Sam appeared out of nowhere, getting the demons away and giving Dean some room to move.

 

They’re surrounded by dead carcasses of former demons now, panting and in pain. Demons don’t go down easy. Dean turns to his brother. “I’ll find Cas. You go see if there are any more kids here.”

 

“Dean, I already checked, and I already got the two girls out of here.” Sam’s irritated. Dean doesn’t care. He just needs to find Cas, to make sure the son of a bitch didn’t do anything stupid like get himself killed.

 

Dean’s tired of losing people. People and angels and everyone who’s ever sided with them.

 

He glares at Sam. “Check again.”

 

“Dean, I can help you look…” Sam starts, but Dean won’t have it. Yes, he wants Sam and Cas to have their reunion, if there’s even a reunion to be had. Cas could be dead by now, but Dean refuses to think about that option. He just knows that he doesn’t want his brother there with him if Cas really is dead. Dean doesn’t want to lose it in front of Sam; he doesn’t think he’ll be able to keep it together if Cas is dead.

 

“Damnit, Sam, I have to do this on my own.” Dean says. He’s angry, and scared, and even though he knows that Sam just wants to help, he doesn’t want help. He doesn’t think he can be helped. He just has to find Cas.

 

Sam nods. “Alright. I’ll go check. Again.”

 

Sam goes off, farther into the warehouse. Dean gives him a few seconds before he starts his search back up again. He looks over his shoulder; there’s a door there that he hadn’t noticed before, probably because he was fighting off a shitton of demons.

 

Dean goes for the door.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

The demon goes for a knife.

 

Cas takes a deep breath. It might be his last. He’s died before, but he was brought back. He has a sense that this death won’t be temporary.

 

If it is, Cas will make sure to keep away from anyone who has connections to the Winchesters. He’ll also come up with a false history. He shared the real one with Amelia because he thought that he’d be ready to face Dean and Sam.

 

He was wrong. He doesn’t think he’ll ever be ready.

 

The demon’s fingers curl around the knife. It steps forward, towards the ring of holy fire. Towards Cas.

 

Cas isn’t afraid. Not of the demon. He’s only afraid of how painful the demon will make his death, and how drawn out it will be.

 

Cas just wants it over, before Dean can find him. He doesn’t want to be around to hurt Dean, or Sam, or even Amelia and her friends, any longer. Cas is a time bomb, and anyone who gets to close gets hit.

 

 _You can’t even die right._ Naomi’s words echo through his head as the demon steps over the fire. Its face lights up in the light of the flames, casting sharp shadows. Cas knows what fear is, and this is it.

 

Part of him is wishing that Dean would hurry up, and save him. That part is silenced quickly as Cas hears another gunshot, another _son of a bitch_. Cas doesn’t want Dean to see him. Cas wants Dean to move on with his life, to have a family like he deserves.

 

Cas can’t give him that. Cas can only take it away.

 

The demon’s lips curl up and it presses the knife to Cas’s jaw line. “Looks like your little hunter buddy is having some problems getting here in time.”

 

“I know.” Cas says.

 

“He’ll never save you.”

 

“I know.”

 

The demon pauses, a confused look crossing its face. “You’ll never see your human alive again… shouldn’t that make you a little bit upset?”

 

Cas raises his shoulders. “I don’t know.”

 

“But you’re in _love_ with him.” The demon looks utterly confused with the whole situation. It presses the knife harder. “Don’t you _want_ to see him?”

 

Cas swallows, and looks past the demon, to the door. A body hits it. It’s not Dean’s. Cas closes his eyes. “Not really.”

 


	11. His name was Cas, and he was in pain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dean is a knight in shining armour. Castiel is not the damsel in distress, despite what the books might say. After all, he's not a damsel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Pay grade" can easily be read as "gay parade" when one is tired and dyslexic.
> 
> Though, a gay parade would make this story really interesting.

Dean takes out demon after demon as he makes his way down the short hall. There’s only one door at the end, and that door has to have Cas behind it. That’s why it’s so heavily guarded; the demons are trying to keep anyone from getting to Castiel.

 

Well, Dean isn’t just anyone. He’s a man who screwed up and thought he lost a friend. If there’s any chance that Dean can save Cas, Dean’s taking it.

 

He shouldn’t have gotten so pissed at Cas about the whole angel tablet thing. Sure, Cas shouldn’t have just popped out without warning, and he shouldn’t have been out of contact, but this is _Cas_ , God dammit, and Sam was right. Cas is one of the good guys. He’s on their side. There aren’t many people still on their side.

 

Dean slams a demon into the door, sticking the knife up through its mouth. The demon drops to the floor, dead, and Dean kicks it out of the way. There’s a small window, and through it, Dean can see Cas and another demon. The demon’s holding a knife to Castiel’s neck.

 

The demon sees Dean, grins, and punches Castiel square in the face. Dean slams his hand down on the door handle. It doesn’t move. Dean can see the demon laughing. It takes the knife away from Cas’s neck, and Dean relaxes for a second.

 

Then the knife goes into Cas’s gut, Cas’s head whips back against the board he’s strapped to, and he lets out a scream that Dean can’t hear. That gets Dean moving, fumbling for his lock pick while slamming against the door.

 

He’s not letting Cas die. Not again. Not when he’s so close to saving him.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Cas screams, loud and strained, as the knife goes in and out again. No organs are hit, meaning the demon’s not going to kill him yet, but the pain is intense. Cas had forgotten how much pain could be felt.

 

He can hear Dean working at the door. He isn’t sure what he wants. He wants the pain to go away, because it’s pulsing through his body as the demon hits him again. He wants to not have to face Dean now, because Dean will have just saved his life. He wants Dean to save him, because he doesn’t want to die while Dean watches. He doesn’t want to put Dean through that.

 

The door slams open with such force that Castiel fears that Dean is possessed. Castiel has never seen anyone completely human burst in with that much power.

 

“You son of a bitch let him go!” Dean’s face is lit up with the fire and his own anger, and he’s sinking the knife into the demon’s chest before Cas can fully register that Dean’s really here, in this room.

 

Dean stands up and wipes the knife off. He turns to Cas, and Cas expects to be met with green eyes filled to the brim with betrayal. Cas doesn’t get what he’s expecting, what he thinks he deserves. Dean’s looking at Cas the way Cas has seen him look at his brother. A bit broken, a whole lot of protective. Dean swallows. “Cas…?”

 

“Dean.” Cas coughs out. He’s still bleeding, and his nose is still broken. He can talk, though, and he can breathe. He’s still alive, surprisingly enough.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Dean sinks the knife into the demon that was hurting Cas, pulls the knife back out, and watches the demon fall down dead with satisfaction.

 

Then he turns to Castiel.

 

Castiel, who is still alive. Castiel, who can be punched. Castiel, who cries out in pain now when he’s stabbed with a common knife.

 

Dean isn’t sure the Cas in front of him is real. He doesn’t know what to do. “Cas…?”

 

“Dean.” Cas sputters, blood coming out as well. Cas is human, he has to be, and the brokenness of his voice confirms that. Dean doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know if there is anything he can do. This is above his pay grade. He stands there, just staring as Cas, all bloody and human, and he wonders how long it’s been like this for the former angel.

 

“Dean?” The staring is broken by Sam, who has returned. Dean turns to his brother. He doesn’t have anything to say.

 

He doesn’t have to say anything. Sam goes straight past Dean, and starts untying Castiel, telling him to put pressure on the knife wounds now that Cas’s hands are free. Dean stands there. He has nothing to do, and he’s in shock.

 

Cas is alive. But he’s human. And he’s bleeding. And in pain. But alive.

 

Sam finished freeing Cas, and drapes the former angel’s arm over his shoulders, holding Cas up as best as he can. He looks at Dean. “Dean. A little help?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, sorry, Sam.” Dean pulls himself out of the weird trance he had been in and helps his brother carry Cas out of the building, to the Impala. Dean lays Cas out in the backseat while Sam gets the floss and needle from the trunk. Dean makes sure not to rip open Cas’s wound anymore. He notices scars and bruises up and down Cas’s torso, which has been exposed to gain better access to the stab wounds.

 

Cas stares up at Dean, the same way he always has. “Dean, I’m sorry.”

 

“For what?” Dean’s forgotten about everything Cas has done. No, not forgotten. Forgiven. Cas is family, just like Sam was still family even when he left Dean for a demon and sprung Lucifer from the cage. They got past that, just like Dean and Cas will get past… this. Dean doesn’t even know what this is.

 

Cas turns his face away. Dean can see all of the pain Cas is in. He presses harder onto the knife wound; it’s stopped bleeding, but Dean knows those things hurt like a bitch. Dean leans toward Cas. “Cas? You still with me?”

 

“I’m not going anywhere, if that’s what you’re implying.” Cas says bluntly. Dean smiles. “Same old Cas.”

 

Sam appears with the supplies, and Dean moves back to let Sam get to work. Dean’s still shaken from seeing Cas alive, then seeing Cas human, and bleeding, and almost dying. He trusts Sam with the sharp objects right now, not himself.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia wakes up in a bed that isn’t her own, and she’s disoriented for a few moments before she realises that she’s a the Winchester… Men of Letters… whatever… bunker, and that Charlie is outside of her room, humming _Pocket full of Sunshine_. They were waiting for news from the boys when Amelia fell asleep.

 

She yawns and runs her fingers through her hair, trying to get rid of any bedhead she may have had. She gets out of the bed and walks up to Charlie. “Are they back yet?”

 

“Dean just called.” Charlie turns and looks up from where she’s sitting. “They found Cas… he’s injured, but they fixed him up as best they could, ant they’ll be here soon. Maybe an hour, maybe fifteen minutes. I can never tell with them.”

 

“What do we do while we wait?” Amelia asks, and leans against the doorframe. Charlie smiles, and Amelia’s seen that smile before. Not that exact smile, but she’s seen two smiles very similar: Gwen’s when she’s given a shopping assignment, and Scott when he gets to fully geek out over the thing of his choosing. Charlie’s got a good (for her) plan going on in her head.

 

Charlie leans back in her seat. “Well, for starters, I should probably tell you my conspiracy theories on the relationship between Dean and Cas…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In other news, my anxiety has returned in full force, alongside the depressive part of my manic-depressive cycle, so please be nice to me. I'm not feeling very human right now.


	12. His name was Cas, and he was sorry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cas comes home, and almost goes back to heaven. His heaven, of course, is filled with Dean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cas is a cinnamon roll. Amelia will fight anyone who tries to hurt him.

Amelia’s completely filled in on Charlie’s theories by the time the door opens and Sam and Dean stumble in, carrying Cas between them. Amelia forgets all the interesting things she and Charlie had been talking about and runs up to her friend, eyes wide with worry. “Cas, you okay? What the hell happened?”

 

“Some sonuvabitch demon thought it would be funny to stab Cas in the gut.” Dean’s voice is darker than Amelia expects. She steps away from him. He flashes her a grin, but it seems a bit hollow. “I ganked the sucker.”

 

“Thank you, Dean.” Cas dead-pans, but Amelia knows, despite the flat tone, that Cas means his thanks. Cas always means his thanks, or at least the Cas Amelia knows. Amelia hopes that she knows the real Cas. Amelia turns to Dean. “They were holding us hostage… we were the bait.”

 

“Yeah, they left behind a trail of bodies, each with a note talking about Cas.” Sam says as he and Dean lead Cas down the hall to a room different from the one that Amelia had woken up in. Once they’re in the room, Sam lets go and Dean lowers Cas down onto the bed. Cas winces, but goes down without much resistance, falling asleep almost immediately. Dean looks up at Sam, then Amelia. “You wanna fill her in on what’s going on? I’ve got to do something, then I’ll be out there.”

 

“No problem.” Sam says. When Dean turns his back on his brother, Amelia watches his hand run across Cas’s forehead, moving Cas’s hair out of his face. Amelia smiles a bit, because that’s sweet, and she’s glad that her suggestion to take Cas home worked well. She does, however, slip away when Dean starts talking to the now sleeping Castiel.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Cas dreams of Heaven. It’s not the ripped-up Heaven he made, or the Heaven he grew up in. It’s the Heaven he thinks he’ll go to if he ever dies and ends up upstairs.

 

It’s got a lot of Dean in it, and that makes Cas happy. But it also makes Cas’s heart (he has one now, and he’s gotten quite familiar with its beating) wrench in pain. Cas hurt Dean, and made Dean hate him, and he doesn’t think he deserves to be saved by Dean, not now, not ever.

 

He’s at the den of iniquity now… Dean’s sitting across from him, instructing him on how to get one of the girls. Cas isn’t really listening, not now. He knows how Heaven used to work, before the angels all fell. Now, Heaven could be anything. Then, Heaven was a person’s favourite memories. This was one of Cas’s, because it was one of the first times that Dean had seemed happy with Cas.

 

“Hey, Cas… can you hear me?” Dean’s voice says. It covers the voice of the Dean in front of him, and Cas looks around the room, trying to figure out where other Dean’s voice is coming from and how it got into his head.

 

“I… well, I’m kinda still pissed at you… and I have no idea what the hell happened… but man, I’m just glad you’re still alive.” Dean’s voice says. Cas melts to the floor, and a hooker walks past him. He buries his face in his hands. He doesn’t want this.

 

No, he wants this. He wants Dean to care about him, he wants to be included in the Winchesters’ family, but he doesn’t deserve it. Not after all the times he’s ruined lives and hurt people.

 

Cas looks up, not because he thinks he’ll talk to God, but because he thinks that up is where Dean’s voice is coming from. “Dean, I’m sorry.”

 

“Cas, buddy, you’ve got to wake up… I don’t wanna lose you, not again…” Dean’s voice continues, and Cas can hear the cracking, similar to how it broke when Dean prayed for Cas to help Sam. Cas couldn’t help Sam, and Sam was still in pain. Cas had seen it, before he passed out. It was better, but it was still there.

 

Cas couldn’t save Sam. He couldn’t answer Dean’s prayer. He failed.

 

“Come on Cas, don’t give up now…” Dean’s voice again. “You… you’re one of the only friends I’ve got… you’re the closest thing I’ve got to family, save for Sam, and I’m really fucking tired of losing you… so, please? Please wake up?”

 

Cas breathes. He didn’t breathe in his dreams; that was one of the things he had noticed when he had first started sleeping. In his dreams, he was still an angel. In his dreams, he hadn’t screwed everything up.

 

Cas stands up, leaning heavily on a booth. “Okay, Dean.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia calls her mom, to let her know that she’s okay, and that Cas didn’t really kidnap her, like everyone else in Derry is saying. She’s in the main room with Charlie and an Asian guy who Amelia hopes is Kevin. It could be Crowley, but Crowley’s supposed to be in a secure location. Sam is supposed to be watching over Crowley at the moment, and Dean is waiting for Cas to wake back up.

 

“Amy, sweetheart, I believe you.” Mrs. Cabot says, her voice soft and longing. Amelia didn’t realise how much she missed her home and her family, crazy and not understanding as they might be sometimes. Amelia smiles. “Thanks mom. I miss you, by the way.”

 

“I miss you too, and your friends are worried sick.” She says. Amelia hears her mother sigh before continuing. “Please get back before Scott and Gwen got off to college. They’d be so upset if they didn’t get to see you before you all left.”

 

“I’ll make sure I get back soon.” Amelia says. She looks around the room; Kevin’s writing some sort of translation, and Charlie’s tying away on her laptop. Amelia wets her lips. “We’re just waiting for Cas to heal… he got hurt pretty bad in a recent fight…”

 

“Oh, poor Cas.” Amelia’s mother actually sounds like she cares. Amelia is surprised for a moment until she realises that her mom probably still thinks of Cas as the hero who saved her daughter and two friends from some psycho teens. Teens that were possessed by demons, but Amelia isn’t going to tell her mom that. She’s not going to tell her mom about any of the supernatural things she’s run into over the past two months. There are just some things that the general public doesn’t need to know.

 

“Yeah…” Amelia nods. “Um, mom, I’ve gotta go… I’ll call you when I’m leaving to come home, kay?”

 

“Okay.” Mrs. Cabot says in response. “Stay safe.”

 

Amelia promises that she will, even though she has no idea if she will stay safe or not, and hangs up. She heaves a sigh and runs her hands through her hair. She hears someone’s rushing footsteps and looks up to see Dean burst into the room. Amelia blinks. “Dean?”

 

“Cas woke up.” Dean says, his relief not contained at all. His excitement, on the other hand, is definitely restrained. “He said he wanted to talk to you.”

 

“Okay, then.” Amelia stands up, and follows Dean back to the room where Cas had collapsed previously. Cas is laying on the bed, propped up with pillows. His trench coat is wrapped around him, but he looks fine. Amelia smiles. “Hey Cas. Good to know you’re back.”

 

“Yes.” Cas nods. He looks past Amelia, to where Dean is still standing in the doorway. “Dean, I would like to speak to Amelia privately for a moment… thank you for taking care of my injury.”

 

“Hey, I don’t want you dead.” Dean says, and gives one of the smiles that Amelia sees on Gwen’s face whenever she gets partnered up with her ex-boyfriend that she still has a crush on. It’s the _we fucked up and I want to fix it but I don’t know how or where to start_ smile. Amelia nods to Dean. “Thanks for saving both of us… but, uh…”

 

“Yep. Got it.” Dean nods, almost frantically, and backs out. “I’ll give you a minute.”

 

As soon as Dean leaves, Cas’s mask of calm dissipates. Amelia sits down on the chair next to Cas’s bed, the one she supposes that Dean was sitting in previously. Amelia raises an eyebrow. “Well? What do you have to tell me that couldn’t be said in front of Dean?”

 

“I’m in love with him.” Cas blurts out, and holy hell, Amelia totally saw that one coming. With a bit of help from Charlie, but shhh, no one needs to know. Amelia’s taking all the credit for this one, because she figured it out without any books. Hah.

 

“And this is a problem because…?” Amelia asks. She’s not the best when it comes to the whole _shit I like him, like… a lot_ stuff. It’s one of the many reasons that she introduced Scott to Gwen. She wanted them to freak out about guys and crushes together. She still ended up as the one who got the whole “I’m in love” speech, though.

 

“Dean is not attracted to… this.” Cas motions to his body. Amelia nods; Cas thinks Dean’s straight. Well, Cas didn’t see the way Dean looked at him when he moved the hair from Cas’s face, nor did Cas see Dean’s face when he talked about the demon who stabbed Cas.

 

Cas folds his hands and presses his nose to his fingers. “How am I supposed to deal with this?”

 

“I’ll deal with it.” Amelia pats Cas on the shoulder. She has a plan. It’s a plan that is the result of one flamboyantly gay fanboy-geek, one fashion-obsessed Kim Possible wannabe, and a nerdy hacker turned hunter. Amelia smiles. “Just stay here, and don’t worry.”

 

“I’m worrying.” Cas says, his eyes narrowed. Amelia laughs, and rubs Cas’s hair before she leaves the room. She’s going to find Dean now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amelia is a cinnamon roll. Cas will fight anyone who tries to hurt her.


	13. His name was Cas, and he had a human

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amelia Cabot is all of us after six (?) seasons of watching Dean and Cas not do anything about their massive crushes on each other.

Dean goes to the shooting range after Cas wakes up, because he needs to clear his head, and there aren’t any monsters nearby.

 

He stops shooting when he feels someone poking his shoulder. He sets the gun down and turns to see Amelia, Cas’s kid friend, standing there with her hands on her hips. She looks pissed, and Dean can think of a few reasons why that might be.

 

He taps his fingers on the wall. “Can I help you?”

 

“No, but you can help Cas.” Amelia says, her voice ridiculously flat. She’s hiding something. Dean really hopes the something isn’t anything bad involving Cas. Cas has been through enough, and Dean hasn’t even had the chance to figure out what the hell happened last May.

 

Dean swallows, not sure he wants an answer to the question he’s about to ask. “How?”

 

“Well, you can start by getting your ass back to that room and kissing your angel like you’ve wanted to since… well, I don’t know, but I can tell this whole Cas thing isn’t new to you.” Amelia looks up at Dean with a cocky, Meg-like look, and for a second, Dean thinks that Meg’s somehow alive, and somehow inside of this teenager in front of him.

 

Then, he realises what Amelia actually _said_. And his body stops functioning for a second, and he swears that he dies for the… hundredth time or something.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia leaves Dean alone in the shooting range (which is hella awesome; Amelia can’t wait to tell Scott that the Winchesters now have their own _shooting_ _range_ ), and goes back to Cas. He’s still in the bed, but he’s now flipping through a magazine. At first glance, Amelia sees the magazine as a women’s gossip magazine and starts to fear for Cas’s taste in men, but once she gets a better look at the images on the cover, she realises just how wrong she was. Amelia face-palms. “Oh my God, Cas, why’re you looking through Dean’s porn collection?!”

 

“It was there.” Cas has enough dignity to look a bit embarrassed. Amelia laughs, because the situation is pretty ridiculous right now. She’s helping an angel (former angel) get some from a fictional character who’s in a book that’s apparently based off of real life. And real life includes crazy demons and underground bunkers filled to the brim with information on every imaginable and unimaginable creature that could possibly exist.

 

Cas tilts his head to the side. “I don’t understand what you find so funny about all of this.”

 

“I can’t really explain it, but…” Amelia trails off, because she senses someone behind her. She turns around to see Dean in the doorway, looking slightly unsettled. Amelia stands up, prepared to leave, but Dean rapidly shakes his head as soon as she starts moving towards him. “Don’t leave because of me. I just… I was gonna make sure that Cas was okay. Just cuz, you know, he’s kinda on my bed… I, uh, I’m gonna need it back. Eventually.”

 

“Dean, you are the one who decided to put me here.” Cas says from behind Amelia. Dean looks nervous for a split second, but he covers it before Amelia or Cas can acknowledge it. Dean gives Cas a really fake smile, out of uncertainty, not lack of empathy. “Yeah… guess I wasn’t thinking about that when you were bleeding and barely conscious.”

 

“I… I think I’ll leave.” Amelia says, knowing where the conversation between Dean and Cas could go and knowing that it will never get there if she’s still around.

 

“No!” Both Cas and Dean seem to know that Amelia’s presence is hindering the progress of Charlie Bradbury’s (and Amelia Cabot’s, though she’s not technically a _Supernatural_ fan and doesn’t know if she counts or not) favourite conspiracy theory involving the _Supernatural_ series, the theory that Cas wants the Dean and Dean wants the Cas. Charlie’s second favourite theory is that having sex with Sam is a death wish, but Amelia has no opinion on that one.

 

“No, um, you don’t… you don’t have to leave… because…” Dean starts, looking at Cas as though Cas will have the fake excuse needed to prolong the inevitable. Cas doesn’t he just pulls up the bedsheet so that only his face and fingers are showing. Dean swallows and looks back to Amelia. “Because,,, because you’ve got to leave soon, and you should spend as much time with Cas as you can, because you’ll probably not see him ever again because of your college shit, and… and Cas is gonna have to stay here with me and Sam… and Charlie and Kevin, and—”

 

“Dean.” Cas says, giving the hunter a smite-worthy look. Dean makes eye-contact with his angel. “Yeah?”

 

“I’m… gonna step out and let you two finish…” Amelia says before getting the hell out of the room. She can’t manage a dramatic exit yet, because she’s still weak from the demon attack, but she does the best she can, knowing that the sooner she gets away from Dean and Cas, the sooner they’ll get together, or at least get together-er. Dean might fuck it up, or Cas might misinterpret whatever weird confession Dean comes up with, and it might not go down how Amelia expects it’ll go down, but Cas and Dean will still happen. Cas and Dean will figure each other out; Amelia’s sure of that.

 

She makes it back to the main room where Sam and Charlie are scanning over Charlie’s tablet, probably plotting out their next hunt. Amelia joins them, sitting down beside Sam. “Are you guys already going after _another_ monster?”

 

“We’re looking into something.” Sam says, and turns to Amelia. “How are you holding up, after everything that’s happened today?”

 

“Just tired. I’ll be okay.” Amelia shrugs. She doesn’t say that she wants to go home, because that’s too complicated. She wants to go home so that she can see her family and her friends again, and reassure them that she’s fine and that Cas was never a threat to anyone. But she also wants to stay here a little longer. Not forever, though. Amelia can’t see herself as a hunter in the long run. She hunted to help Cas find his family, not because she needed to hunt down something specifically. Amelia figures that she’ll go into something a bit more stable, and safer, than the hunting business, but that doesn’t mean that she wants to leave Cas and the others behind. No, Amelia wants to stay at the bunker because she’s not sure she’s ready to say goodbye to Cas yet. She’s not sure if she’s ready to say goodbye to any of these hunters, really.

 

“We’ll find you a room so that you can sleep it off, and we’ll get you home tomorrow.” Sam says. He stands up, and motions for Amelia to follow him down the hall where Dean and Cas are. Amelia does, and Sam shows her to a room that has obviously never been used by any of the bunker’s inhabitants. There’s a bed in the corner, pressed up against the wall. Sam asks, “Will this work?”

 

“Yeah.” Amelia nods. “Thanks, by the way. For saving me, and Cas, and not getting pissed about me being a kid hunter. I know hunting’s dangerous, so I don’t plan to do it much after I get back home.”

 

“Don’t do it at all.” Sam says, a splash of concern on his face. Amelia nods, because she knows how hard it was for Sam to get in and out of the hunting life. Amelia still has the chance to get out of it all and have a normal life. Sam, Dean, Cas… they’re stuck in the hunter’s life until they die and stay dead.

 

Sam leaves Amelia alone before she can say anything else. Amelia closes the door and walks over to her new bed. She sits down, runs a hand through her hair, and lets out a tired sigh. It’s been a long day, and the future doesn’t look much shorter, but at least Cas is safe now.

 

 _I did my job._ Amelia thinks as she lies down and pulls the sheet up to her chest. She closes her eyes, finally, and relaxes. She reunited Cas with his family. She brought the angel home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter? 
> 
> One more chapter!
> 
> (the--renegade--angels.tumblr.com) (come visit me, I swear I'm kind of cool)


	14. His name was Cas, and they had to say goodbye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amelia comes home. Cas becomes a doctor. The story ends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final one!!

Gwen Patrick was completely packed and ready to go off to college at Columbia University. Since she was already packed, she was at Scott’s house, pestering him about not being ready to leave for Penn State. The two friends are currently in Scott’s room; Gwen’s running in and out of Scott’s closet, and Scott’s just trying to catch some of the clothes that she’s throwing at him. Both of them are purposely _not_ talking about Amelia. Both of them are purposely not talking about how there was a federal agent investigating the man who kidnapped Amelia.

 

The room is silent for a moment, as Gwen pauses in her speech about why procrastination is a bad thing. Gwen swallows, turns and faces Scott. “Amelia should be here.”

 

“ _We_ shouldn’t have _trusted_ that _Cas_ guy. I _knew_ there was _something_ _off_ about him…” Scott shakes his head. “ _But_ I _just_ couldn’t _place_ it. _And_ now… _now_ Amelia’s part of _some_ Federal _investigation_!”

 

“It’s not your fault.” Gwen says. “It’s not anyone’s fault. Amelia’s want to help people just… back-fired. I guess.”

 

Scott nods. Neither one wants to say that Cas did some good things before he kidnapped Amelia. It’s easier for them to categorise Cas as the bad guy if they ignore the fact that he saved their lives once.

 

The Kim Possible theme song breaks the solemn tension in the room. Gwen jumps and grabs her phone from Scott’s dresser. She answers it without looking to see who’s calling her. “What’s the sitch?”

 

“Is this Gwen Patrick?” A female voice asks. Gwen recognises the voice from somewhere before, but she can’t exactly place it. Scott hisses, “ _who_ is it?” and Gwen shrugs. To the voice on the phone, she says, “yes, I’m Gwen. Who’s this?”

 

“Agent Charlie Tolkien.” She responds. “I took your statements about the disappearance of Amelia Cabot a month ago, and I wanted you to know that we found her.”

 

“Oh my God!” Gwen nearly screams it, and then slaps her hand over her mouth, hope and dread filling her body. Hope, because she’ll finally find out what happened to her friend, and dread, because Amelia might be coming home in a body bag.

 

“ _Gwen_ , who is _it_?” Scott gets up and is beside her in a second, grey eyes wide with interest. “What _are_ they _saying_? _Gwen_?”

 

“I—I’m gonna put you o-on speaker… A-Agent Tolkien.” Gwen says, shaking slightly as she does so. Her iPhone 5 is between her and Scott, and Gwen’s gripping the Kim Possible-themed case like it’s her only chance of survival. She swallows. “Um… you said… you said you found Amy?”

 

“Yes. Don’t worry, she’s fine. Her parents have already been notified, and she made me call you because she told me that you and Scott would both be paranoid until you got answers.” Agent Tolkien says. Both Scott and Gwen relax. The Federal agent continues. “I’m bringing her home today, so we’ll be back in Maine in about nine hours.”

 

“Thank you!” Gwen and Scott say, grinning. They’re getting their friend back. Nine hours, and then Amelia will be in the room with them. Gwen says goodbye to Agent Tolkien, and then pockets her phone. She puts her hands on her hips and narrows her eyes, game face on and ready. “We’ve got to get ready for Amelia’s return.”

 

“ _I’m_ guessing that _whatever_ you’re _planning_ is going to _take_ place at _Amy’s_ house?” Scott leans back against his wall and flicks his hair from his face. Gwen nods. “Hell to the yes. You’re driving, by the way.”

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

Amelia walks up to Cas and hugs him. She also hugs Sam and Dean before walking back to Cas. She smiles sadly up at him. “Thanks, Cas.”

 

“For what?” Cas tilts his head to the left. “I didn’t do anything. I should be thanking you.”

 

“You helped me figure out what I’m going to do with my life.” Amelia says. “I’m not going to be a doctor, because that’s too much like being a hunter in that there are sometimes more tragedies than losses, and that’s not who I am. I fix people, mentally, not physically. So… I’m going into psychology. I’m going to become a psychiatrist, and I’ll help people get through things, natural and supernatural.”

 

“Good.” Cas says, and Amelia knows that he means it. She pulls out her phone and hands it to Cas.  “Put your number in. I want to keep in touch with you, in case you’re ever in danger and I’m in the area.”

 

They exchange contact information, and Amelia notices that Cas also added Dean and Sam’s number to her phone as well. Because of that, Amelia decides to ask Charlie for her number as well, once they’re back in Derry, Maine. It seems only appropriate to stay in contact with these four hunters, since they’re Amelia’s originals. She locks her phone and puts it in her pocket, then looks up at Cas, remembering something that happened the previous day. “Did you and Dean…?”

 

“Yes.” Cas nods.

 

“And did he…?”

 

“No.” Cas pauses, looks over his shoulder to the other room where Sam and Dean are packing up for their next hunt. “He didn’t. I did.”

 

Amelia smiles. “Good for you, Cas.”

 

“Thank you.” Cas says. “And not just about Dean. Thank you for bringing me home. Thank you for… saving me.”

 

Amelia hugs Cas again, one last time, before she waves goodbye to the hunters and walks up the stairs, out of the Men of Letters’ bunker. She finds Charlie, decked out in a Fed suit, leaning against the same yellow car as before. Charlie smiles as Amelia gets closer. “Ready to go home?”

 

“I guess.” Amelia says. She and Charlie get in the car, and Charlie starts driving. The red-head explains to Amelia what her story will be when she gets home to her friends and family, and Amelia nods along silently, keeping her thoughts to herself. She wants to tell them the truth, but she knows that sometimes the truth isn’t the best thing for a victim to hear. The good thing about Charlie’s cover story is that Cas is still the good guy. Amelia can’t ask for much more than that.

 

<<<<>>>> 

 

At around nine-thirty, a yellow Mini Cooper shows up in front of Amelia Cabot’s house. Inside the house, Amelia’s mother, father, and two of her brothers are waiting, along with her two best friends, Scott and Gwen. Gwen’s face is pressed to the window, and she’s nearly vibrating with nervous excitement. Scott’s pacing behind her, and the four Cabots are sitting around the coffee table, each one wearing a different shade of apprehension on his or her face.

 

“There’s a car out there.” Gwen says, pulling her head back from the window pane.

 

“ _Does_ it look _like_ it _belongs_ to a _Federal_ agent?” Scott stops his pacing, turns and flicks his hair from his face. Gwen looks back through the window, even though she’s already seen what the car looks like. “Um, it’s a Mini, but there are two women getting out of it… I think one of them is Agent Tolkien, and if it is, then the other one…”

 

“ _Amelia_.” Scott says, and rushes for the door. Behind them, Amelia’s mother sits up. The house is bathed in silence for a few minutes, as everyone waits to see if the woman from the Mini Cooper really is Agent Tolkien, and if she really does have Amelia with her. They’re also waiting to see if Amelia really is as healthy as the Federal agent claims her to be.

 

There’s a knock on the door, and Scott answers it. Agent Tolkien is there, and behind her is Amelia, looking thinner than before, but otherwise okay. Scott runs forward and grabs Amelia, pulling her in for a hug. Gwen’s there a moment later, and all three teens are laughing in relief.

 

Scott steps back first, and looks Amelia up and down. “How _exactly_ are you _alive_? _Not_ that you _being_ _alive_ is a _bad_ thing, _because_ it’s really not, _but_ Amelia… _Cas_ kidnapped you. _Theoretically_ , _you_ should be _dead_.”

 

“Cas didn’t kidnap me.” Amelia says. She glances back at Agent Tolkien, who is leaning against the wall with her hands in her pockets. Amelia runs a hand through her hair before she continues. “I chose to go with him, and I was right about him. Cas is good. He was just… confused. When we first met him, I mean. He’s not confused anymore.”

 

“Cas’s real name isn’t Cas, though.” Agent Tolkien says. “His real name is Dr. Clarence Masters, and he specialises in adult mental illnesses.”

 

Amelia nods. “Yeah, what Agent Charlie said. Cas really is friends with two guys named Sam and Dean—he’s also friends with Agent Charlie—but his Sam and Dean are real Federal agents, not fictional monster hunters who occasionally pretend to be Feds.”

 

Agent Tolkien and Amelia go on to explain that Dr. Masters is schizophrenic, and had switched to a different treatment right before falling off his friends’ radars. Charlie, Sam, and Dean had done everything in their power to figure out what had happened to their favourite doctor (despite Dean being pissed off that Dr. Masters had ignored Dean’s suggestion to not switch to the new medication), but had come up with nothing until they caught wind of Gwen and Scott’s missing person ad, which contained a picture of Dr. Masters’ face. Amelia explained that the doctor had convinced himself that he was really Castiel the angel, and that he had hurt Sam and Dean beyond repair and therefore could never return home. Amelia had convinced him otherwise, and the two of them had set off across the country and eventually found the _real_ Sam and Dean working on a case.

 

“Cas is currently back in his home, with Agents Sam and Dean, and restabilising himself.” Amelia finishes the explanation. “He said to tell you guys that he apologises for any stress he put you through.”

 

“ _Well_ , I’m glad you _didn’t_ get _kidnapped_.” Scott says, and motions for Amelia and Agent Tolkien to enter the Cabots’ house. “It’s _also_ kind of _cool_ that _Dr_. Masters is _actually_ one of the _good_ _guys_.”

 

“Hey, I know which ones to help.” Amelia grins at her friends.

 

“Sweetheart, I’m sure you do.” Gwen puts her hands on her hips and gives Amelia her best BAMF-Kim Possible impression. “But next time, don’t go on a cross country adventure with a stranger and turn your phone off. We like knowing that you’re still alive.”

 

<<<<>>>>

 

Amelia wakes up to the sound of her phone ringing. She sits up and runs her hand through her hair before grabbing her phone off the side table. It’s Gwen calling. Amelia answers the call. “Is this a sitch or a good morning call?”

 

“Bit of both.” Gwen says, and Amelia pictures her friend winding her finger through one of her curls. “It’s our last day together, before we all start going off to college, and I kind of wanted us to get together one last time. It would just be the three of us… you, me, and Scott, and… I dunno. I’m just feeling really sentimental.”

 

“You have every right to.” Amelia says. “I’ll be at your house in thirty minutes, okay?”

 

“Okay.” Gwen says. “And, Amy?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Be ready to cry.” Gwen says. “Scott told me that he’s got some sort of compilation of our childhood and I feel that it’s going to be as heart-wrenching as Toy Story Three.”

 

“You and your kid movies.” Amelia laughs, and ignores Gwen’s quip in response. The two girls say goodbye to each other, and Amelia gets out of bed and starts getting dresses. She puts on a pair of jeans, her Converse, and a red plaid shirt rolled to her elbows. She brushes her hair back into a ponytail, and smiles at her reflection.

 

She kind of looks like a hunter, and she really doesn’t mind. She’s not going to break her promise to the Winchesters and go out hunting monsters, but she’s not going to forget what really happened during the summer after her senior year. She’ll remember Cas as just Cas, just like she’ll remember Scott and Gwen when the three of them all go their separate ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okaay so the story doesn't actually end and I'm actually going to be doing a sequel that's multiple chapters. And it will be starring an angel and a demon. I will not say who. I will not even spill the title.
> 
> But be on the look out for something new.

**Author's Note:**

> so this is my original character fic. please leave a comment, let me know how i did with amelia and her world.


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